Recycle Used Cooking Oil (UCO)

Sustainable Recycling Services

Since 1995, Pacific Biodiesel has been recycling used cooking oil from restaurants and foodservice facilities across Hawai’i for use in our local production of 100% renewable fuel.

Whether we’re collecting used cooking oil (UCO) from your restaurant or cleaning your kitchen’s grease trap, rely on our Pacific Biodiesel® team for smooth service so you can focus on efficiently running your kitchen. By recycling with us, you’re helping to keep this waste out of landfills and water sources – and you’re supporting local clean energy production while contributing to a healthier environment.

Our Team is ready to support you with FREE used cooking oil disposal services and more.

Call us today at 808-877-3144 or contact us online

Request Service

Our Collection Services

We collect and recycle waste fats, oils and grease from restaurants, resorts and other food service facilities from across the state of Hawai‘i.

Used Cooking Oil Collection

FREE Pick-Up Service
Customizable Containment Solutions
Reliable & Convenient Service

Grease Trap Pumping

Grease Trap Monitoring
Regularly Scheduled Pumping Service
Emergency Pumping, available 24/7
Proper disposal of all grease trap waste
Fully permitted and licensed by State and County governments
Equipment dedicated for food service
Core sampling to measure the percentage of fats, oils and grease (FOG) to ensure you stay in compliance with local guidelines and avoid costly fines

Drain Cleaning Services (Available On Oʻahu Only)

Hydro jetting – 3000 psi high pressure washing of your plumbing lines to help prevent backups
Drain snaking – an effective way to dislodge clogs in your lines
Preventative Maintenance
Emergency Service, available 24/7

Our Service Makes The Difference!

Pacific Biodiesel has extensive knowledge of local waste oil disposal regulations and are fully registered and permitted to handle proper pumping and hauling of your used cooking oil and grease trap waste. Our drivers are friendly, reliable and respectful of your business. We will work with you to schedule the most convenient collection hours for you and your customers.

If you need to schedule or reschedule a service, please call us and we’ll gladly work with you to accommodate your request. Consider our team an extension of your team – we will partner with you to ensure safety and compliant, timely service. And we’re always on call if you need troubleshooting or emergency service. And, you guessed it – our entire fleet of trucks and service vehicles runs on 100% biodiesel that we produce here in Hawaiʻi from every drop of used cooking oil we recycle from your restaurant!

UCO Collection 101

Here’s what you need to know about recycling your used cooking oil with Pacific Biodiesel.

Overview

Collection Tips

Next Steps

Benefits

From proper bin placement to completing a clean collection of used cooking oil at your location, our skilled drivers are always thorough, careful and safety-conscious to prevent spills. When you start service with us (or at any time if your needs change), we offer a variety of indoor and outdoor containment options based on your kitchen operations and site accessibility.

To ensure our drivers are able to efficiently access your bin and complete a scheduled collection service, please follow these SAFETY TIPS when using our UCO Collection Bins:

NO Solid Food Waste
NO Trash
NO Paint
NO Motor Oil
NO Petroleum-based products

Allow the used cooking oil to cool before carefully pouring into our containment bin.

What happens to your used cooking oil?

Used cooking oil is collected by our team free of charge. Our drivers will arrive at a previously scheduled time based on the collection frequency we determine with you.

Our pump trucks are equipped with a hose that efficiently suctions the oil from your collection bin and avoids spills.

Our drivers will document the service and our customer service team will notify you of any recommended frequency changes.

Our tanks of collected used cooking oil are then delivered to our Hawaiʻi Island refinery where the degraded oils are recycled into biodiesel.

We are also able to extract and recycle waste fats, oils and grease from kitchen grease traps.

For each gallon of used cooking oil recycled at our refinery on Hawaiʻi Island, we produce nearly one gallon of biodiesel. Each year, Pacific Biodiesel produces roughly 6 million gallons of biodiesel, a 100% renewable fuel that’s sold entirely in Hawaiʻi.

Restaurants have been at the heart of our community-based biodiesel model since our company was created on Maui in 1995. Before Pacific Biodiesel started our collection service, Hawaiʻi restaurants had to pay up to $2 per gallon for disposal of their used cooking oil. Today we continue to collect and properly recycle every gallon of used cooking oil at NO CHARGE; saving millions of dollars for local restaurants.

Grease Trap Services 101

Our trained team can help keep a crucial piece of your commercial kitchen in working order.

Overview

Maintenance

What to Expect

Troubleshooting

Your grease trap is critically important – if your kitchen plumbing clogs, your profits and patience can go down the drain. And without an operable grease trap, your restaurant will get shut down.

Fats, oils and grease (FOG) that build up and discharge from grease interceptors into the wastewater system are a major cause of clogged sewer lines. If your restaurant or foodservice operation is found to be responsible for blockage that causes a sewer line to overflow, you could be liable for damages and fined by the city or county.

Our trained technicians will work with you to set timely collection schedules, based on your grease trap size and volume of oils utilized in your kitchen operations, to help keep you in compliance with city and county requirements. Following the 25% rule (accumulated FOG and settled solids should not exceed 25% of a grease trap’s overall liquid depth), we will ensure your grease trap is properly cleaned at the frequency schedule we determine with you or before your trap reaches this 25% level, whichever comes first. This is especially important if you’re a new restaurant operation that needs to establish a pumping frequency schedule.

And if you need urgent assistance, our full-service team is available 24/7 to assist you with emergency pumping of your grease trap.

To help your grease trap operate smoothly, we offer comprehensive preventative maintenance services, including inspecting and cleaning your grease trap. Whether you have an interior or exterior interceptor, we’ll ensure your grease trap is serviced at the proper intervals to minimize the risk of odors and overflows that could interrupt your kitchen operations.

For our customers on O‘ahu, we also offer optional drain cleaning services to check and clean your pipes and remove any clogs.

Outside-drain-grease-trap-maintenance-800sq

First, we will inspect your grease trap and take a photograph to document what it looks like before we begin.

If you need us to complete optional core sampling, we will measure the contents of your grease trap to verify your foodservice establishment is in compliance with your municipality’s requirements.

After we suction out the entire contents of the grease inceptor, including the layer of FOG that rises to the surface, we will thoroughly scrape and clean the interior walls to remove any FOG buildup.

Once we complete the service, we’ll take another photograph to document the finished result. We will prepare a service receipt and send that to you for your records.

Please remember to keep your grease trap easily accessible for our technicians and municipal inspectors. Do not store items on or around the grease trap.

Here are some before and after photos of a grease trap serviced by our team as an example:

BEFORE (left) – This small grease trap is full and accumulated FOG is floating on the surface. The trap is functioning properly (the outlet pipe is unblocked).

AFTER (right) – Contents have been fully pumped from the trap and the interior walls have been cleaned of any FOG buildup.

BEFORE (left) – This 1500-gallon trap is accessed from the trap lid. The trap is full and accumulated FOG is floating on the service. The trap is functioning properly (the outlet pipe is unblocked).

AFTER (right) – The technician has pumped the contents from the trap and the interior walls are free of any FOG buildup.

Help us help you keep your grease trap operating smoothly.

By design, a grease trap captures fats, oils and grease (FOG) and food scraps that go down the drain and prevents these materials from entering the municipal wastewater system where clogs can form and wreak havoc on sewer systems. If you skip service intervals, you run the risk of FOG hardening in your trap, which makes cleaning the trap more costly and can also clog up your trap’s outlet, causing water to backflow up your kitchen drains. Alternatively, too much FOG or food solids can overload your trap and flow downstream into the sewer system or septic tanks.

Here are some tips to help avoid drain clogs caused by grease:

Always use sink strainers and floor drain strainers to catch food waste.
Wipe off oily surfaces using disposable paper towels; FOG on cloth towels can end up in drain lines when washed.
Avoid using a garbage disposal; ground up food waste and FOG washed down the drain is a primary cause of clogged drains.

Sink-drain-strainer-troubleshooting-800sq

Ready to Get Started?

Household UCO 101

Follow these tips to properly recycle (or dispose of) used cooking oil from your home kitchen.

How & Why to Recycle

Locations

Helpful Tips

Please do NOT pour used cooking oil down your drain.

Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG) are found in meats, seafood, sauces, butter, shortenings, oils and other ingredients. Household cooking grease disposed of down the drain contributes to buildup that will eventually clog home pipes or public sewer systems, leading to overflows that may cause expensive repair bills, health risks and environmental hazards.

Reduce your carbon footprint, seal up your household’s used cooking oil and bring it to our Pacific Biodiesel facilities on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island!

The following Pacific Biodiesel island facilities accept used cooking oil from households in sealed containers.

Hawai‘i Island

Household used cooking oil can be brought to our facility in Shipman Business Park for free recycling from Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:00 pm.

Our location:
16-240 Mikahala Street
Keaau, HI 96749
808-877-3144

O‘ahu

Household used cooking oil can be brought to our facility on Sand Island for free recycling from Monday through Friday, 7:00am to 3:00 pm.

Our location:
1003 Makepono St
Honolulu, HI 96819
808-877-3144

Also on O‘ahu

3Rs School Recycling Drives

In collaboration with Kōkua Hawaii Foundation, Pacific Biodiesel participates in the 3Rs School Recycling Drives which collect many different types of recyclable and reusable materials. The 3Rs Drives take place at various DOE public schools on O`ahu once or twice a month.

Residents can drop off their used household cooking oil for free – 2 gallons only per vehicle, please – and Pacific Biodiesel will donate $1.00 per gallon to the school hosting the event! The best part is that your used cooking oil will be recycled here at Pacific Biodiesel. 3Rs Drives are for residential households only, please no business or government drop offs.

Visit Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation for more information.

If you are not able to access these locations to recycle your used cooking oil, please follow these helpful tips from the City & County of Honolulu’s Department of Environmental Services for how to properly dispose of your home’s FOG:

Use a milk or juice carton, unrecyclable plastic container or reuse a sealable plastic bag as your FOG container.
Fill your FOG container with used paper towels, shredded documents, crumpled newspapers, rags or other absorbent material.
Pour your COOLED FOG into the container.
Before washing pots, pans and dirty dishes, use paper towels to wipe and scrape all FOG and food waste into your FOG container.
Never pour FOG down the drain. Use a sink strainer, not a garbage disposal, to catch all food waste; place this waste into your FOG container.
Seal your FOG container and dispose of it into the trash.