Orangeville Banner
Register User
Close

Biodiesel co-op looks for town support
Tuesday August 19 2008
By Richard Vivian, for the Banner
 
Proponents of Ontario’s first biodiesel co-op are looking for a place in Orangeville to dispense their environmentally friendly fuel.
Representatives of Everpure Biodiesel approached town council last week looking for moral support, a place to park their truck at pre-arranged distribution times and to sign the municipality up as a member. Council made no commitments, but has asked municipal staff to look into the requests and report back.
“Our staff will get back in touch with you and hopefully we can do something,” Mayor Rob Adams said.
The co-op recently started selling 100 per cent biodiesel fuel two days per week out of a trailer set up in Hillsburgh. That same trailer could be brought to Orangeville, co-op project head Jay Mowat said.
“It makes no environmental sense for people to drive to Hillsburgh,” he told council, indicating he believes there are Dufferin diesel users who would like to take part.
“We’re pretty basic, pretty farm-based,” he added of the project. “It’s a very grassroots organization.”
The co-op project, a collaboration of Dufferin’s Power Up Renewable Energy (PURE) and Everdale Organic Farm of Hillsburgh, has been three years in the making.
In order to gauge and establish local interest in 100 per cent biodiesel, the co-op started selling fuel from an Owen Sound supplier last month.
Mowat hopes the co-op will be producing it’s own fuel soon. Exhaust from biodiesel doesn’t contain any greenhouse gases, he notes.
Once fully up and running, the project will see farmers grow oil seeds, which the co-op will purchase and process into cooking oil. The oil will then be rented to restaurants for cooking purposes, returned to the co-op and reprocessed into 100 per cent biodiesel, which is sent back to participating farmers.
This cycle, Mowat noted, allows for oil seeds to be used firstly for food. Traditionally, used cooking oil has no other purpose and is simply discarded as waste, he said.
Asked by Coun. Scott Wilson whether biodiesel is safe, Mowat explained it’s both non-toxic and non-flammable. He suggested the biggest danger in the case of a spill would be if someone slipped and fell.
As for the request to participate, Coun. Mary Rose pointed out a motion was approved a few years back regarding the partial use of biodiesel in town vehicles. Doug Jones, manager director of environmental and development services, clarified the motion was to use 10 per cent biodiesel.
However, he said the use has been “somewhat intermittent” because a consistent supply is difficult to find — prompting Mowat to say he’d be “delighted” to speak with town officials on that front.
“We’ll certainly try to give you a break on price, as best we can,” the project head said earlier in the discussion.
The Town of Erin has committed to use the 100 per cent biodiesel in its lawnmowers as a pilot project, Mowat noted, asking the town to consider doing something similar.