That’s right: vegetable oil. It’s the same stuff, as student Olivia Kent, 18, put it, “you fry — sometimes we still find french fries and chicken wings when we get it (the waste oil).”
Waste Management has been a flagship sponsor of the 10-week summer adventure, so the bus stopped by Gettysburg Fishing Lake, across Gettysburg Avenue from Waste Management’s Stony Hollow landfill in West Dayton. The nonprofit student group is scheduled to leave early today, Aug. 29, to head for Cleveland.
It has been a journey with a message — consume less, waste less, get green. When running on vegetable oil, the bus gets about eight miles to the gallon, “exactly” what it gets when running on the bus’ back-up diesel fuel system, said student Brandon Cohen, 21.
Fueling 45 gallons of waste oil takes about 15 minutes, students said. Any remaining organic material in the oil is filtered off before heading into the first tank of a dual-tank system. There, water is drained and tapped off before the vegetable oil is transferred to the second tank, where the material is used for fuel. The students have relied on the generosity of local restaurants along the way, sometimes literally knocking on doors to see if eateries had oil to spare, said student Ben Paly, 21.
The adventure hasn’t been easy. The trip started in New Hampshire, headed south down the East Coast. In Florida, the bus headed west before one breakdown in Alabama and another in Arizona. The group turned north in California, hitting Seattle before heading east.
Armed with solar panels (which supply all the bus’ electrical needs) recycled countertops and bamboo flooring for the vehicle, the group is striving to practice what it preaches.
When we throw something away, what does “away” mean? The average American throws away about 4.6 pounds of material each day, Schmucker said.
“What I tell people is that (tossing trash) is really only the beginning of the process,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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