Just like copper wire from abandoned or foreclosed homes can attract opportunistic thieves, waste oil stored in an unguarded bin outside a restaurant or even in sealed indoor or outdoor tanks can become a target for waste oil thieves.
According to a recent article in Renderer Magazine, used cooking oil’s increasing popularity in the biodiesel/biofuels industry has made it a “hot” commodity for several years now.
And despite today’s lower oil prices, your cooking oil remains a commodity at risk. Waste cooking oil is a foodservice establishment’s asset to control and one that represents a return on investment for restaurant operators who have installed
Frontline, winner of two of the National Restaurant Association’s Kitchen Innovations Awards, offers a simple solution to foil would-be “oil rustlers” and protect restaurateurs’ profits on the sale of used cooking oil. They prevent access by locking tanks digitally.
However waste oil is stored, in an unguarded outdoor bin or in even more sophisticated sealed indoor and outdoor tanks, it can become an easy target for this decade’s crime of opportunity. As it relates to tanks, if the valve used by legitimate oil collectors to pump waste oil from the restaurant remains unlocked between pickups, the thieves can easily access these unlocked valves and draw “liquid gold” from the establishment.
Frontline solves this waste oil crime for its customers before it can happen—with collection ports that are connected to the company’s web-based M3 Data Management System. The ports feature an integrated anti-theft valve that makes it impossible for thieves to drain out the stored oil. Tanks stored outside a foodservice establishment have the protected valve integral to their assembly, and for tanks stored inside the facility, the same anti-theft valve is on the building’s exterior.
The authorized oil-collection truck simply pulls up to the building and hooks up a drainage hose from the truck to the collection port. The anti-theft valve can then be opened remotely by either logging into the M3 Data Management System or by entering a password on a control panel on the tank itself. When the tank is empty, the valve is relocked. As a measure of comfort that the integrity of the system is supported, store personnel can log in and certify online any time the collection port is closed and locked.
Preventing waste oil theft is not just good for the bottom line, but better for the environment by ensuring that oil is in the hands of responsible processors. Frontline’s waste oil containment tanks are part of the company’s Smart Oil Management system.
