Crime | cooking oil Restaurants' Used Grease Draws Thieves Once scorned, it's 'become gold'; can be turned into biodiesel By Kevin Spak Posted May 30, 2008 7:40 AM CDT Copied Wesley Caddell, business developer for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, looks at drums of cooking oils at his plant in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) For decades restaurants have thrown away their used cooking grease without a second thought; now, they’re trying to protect it from thieves. Almost anyone can convert the yellow grease into cheap biodiesel using kits sold on the internet, and restaurant oil bins have become go-to destinations for everyone from environmentalists to thieves who siphon tanks in the dead of the night. The grease is now traded on the commodities market, fetching almost $2.50 a gallon; some restaurants are selling it for extra revenue. “Fryer grease has become gold,” said one restaurateur. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away.” But grease thieves say they’re doing nothing wrong; many restaurants store the grease out by the trash, where it’s fair game. Read These Next Trump reportedly wants a $230M payout from the DOJ. Online boo-bears go after the demo firm tearing White House apart. A well-known nutrition influencer died after a home birth. RFK Jr. offered his wife a fake separation. Report an error