By Nikki Dowling
Chinatown is going green – with cooking oil. Last week Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver kicked off a program that will convert the grease from deep-fat fryers to biodiesel fuel, which can be used to power cars, trains and even heating systems.
Under the initiative workers at the DOE Fund’s Ready, Willing & Able Resource Recovery Fund, which employs formerly homeless New Yorkers, will pick up used cooking oil for free. The oil will be converted to biodiesel, which produces 84 percent less emissions than petroleum-based fuel. Businesses that sign up are eligible for a tax credit of up to 15 cents per gallon.
“This is the beginning of a new relationship between Chinatown businesses, environmental groups and government that will help clean our air of harmful fumes and clear our waters of waste[d] cooking oil,” Silver said in a statement. “This program will instantly provide positive change to our environment and I encourage other interested restaurants in Chinatown to sign up for this free program.”
The Lower East Side Ecology Center and Asian Americans for Equality are helping spread the word.
“The Lower East Side Ecology Center is so happy to be launching our recycling training and outreach program in Chinatown,” said Tara DePorte of the Lower East Side Ecology Center.
Jing Fong, a dim sum restaurant that can seat up to 800 people, was the first establishment in Chinatown to sign on. The oil was collected by DOE Fund workers for the first time on April 30.
“It’s good for the environment, it’s good for the city, it’s good for everybody,” Mandy Chan, the general manager at Jing Fong, said. “If it wasn’t for recycling it might go into the sea.”
Chan estimated that Jing Fong uses roughly 50 gallons of cooking oil for sautéing and frying each month.
This initiative has been going strong on the Lower East Side since last summer. Due to the efforts of the Lower East Side Ecology Center and the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, about 120 businesses have joined in the effort.
Early last week, eco-volunteer youth groups at Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) visited restaurants in Chinatown and invited owners to participate in the program. Although they only went out for three hours, Peter Gee, program manager at AAFE, said three more restaurants signed up and about 10 expressed interest. Restaurant owners are still working through the logistics of the program and their names have not been released.
“We’re going one-on-one to people,” Gee said. “Our youth program is explaining the benefits to restaurant owners.”
Recycling cooking oil is not only good for the environment, it’s good for New York City residents too. Chinatown has one of the highest asthma rates in New York City and vehicles that run on cleaner fuel can counter that.
“There’s a huge problem in Chinatown because a lot of the cooking oil is dumped down storm drains. That causes problems for city infrastructure. So this is a win-win for everyone,” Gee said. “There’s a lot of issues with asthma and bad smells. This is a very holistic approach to addressing a community problem.”
“Of course more green is better,” a Chinatown resident who has lived in the area for 30 years said. “Chinatown should be more clean so more people will come down here.”
Cooking oil is not the first thing that comes to mind when people think about going green and many are championing the program’s creativity.
“It’s a really interesting initiative. We should be encouraging businesses in the area to participate,” Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, said. “Especially since this big oil spill, we have to come up with new ways to fuel our cars. It’s a new process but it certainly sounds like it’s viable.”
The DOE Fund is providing multilingual service via a direct phone line to make the process easier for Asian-American business owners wishing to participate.
