ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when a major festival ends?

With the close of the annual National Shrimp Festival, the clean up began. As hundreds of vendors packed up their wares, loaded up their cargo vans and headed home, clean up crews got to work sweeping streets, hauling away refuse and collecting used cooking oil.

The city of Orange Beach Public Works Department collected more than 1,300 gallons of grease from the food vendors that fry up delicious festival foods such as fried shrimp and funnel cakes.

The collection process took about eight hours during the early morning hours Monday following the event, which ended the second weekend in October.

This cooperative effort between the city of Orange Beach and the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce has positive outcomes for both parties.

Of the 1,300 gallons of grease, 1,200 was able to be converted into 1,200 gallons of biodiesel, equivalent to a 1 to 1 ratio that is used to power maintenance equipment and city vehicles, such as clippers, vacu-mowers and backhoes.

That equates to a diesel fuel cost savings of approximately $2,500. And according to Don McPherson, special events director for the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce, recycling used cooking oil is “another step in the Shrimp Festival’s ongoing efforts to go green. The Chamber will always work with its communities to increase environmental awareness and responsibility.”

Orange Beach began recycling used cooking oil in 2008 when the Public Works Department built the converter equipment using mostly salvaged materials from other city construction projects.

Area restaurants have come on board providing the city with bulk loads of oil to be processed and citizens can participate as well. There are several drop off points around the city where citizens can pick up city issued, one gallon containers to put grease in and then drop them off when they are full.

The cities of Gulf Shores and Foley recently joined in the effort as they collect used cooking oil and send it to Orange Beach for processing as well.

“The partnership with the Chamber through the Shrimp Festival, along with the city partnerships of Gulf Shores and Foley, are starting points for a widespread grease reclamation program in south Baldwin County. Orange Beach is proud to lead the charge on this popular niche recycling initiative. The cost savings and the environmental improvements for the area are considerable as efforts grow in due time,” said Ken Grimes, Orange Beach City Administrator.

The benefits of a grease recycling and biodiesel program are numerous for a community. One of the most obvious is the two end results — biodiesel fuel and glycerin. The city of Orange Beach has already converted several pieces of equipment and vehicles to run on the biodiesel, which has a distinctive “french fry” odor when emitted from the vehicle and has the added fewer diesel fumes polluting the air, cleaner air while not having to buy diesel fuel, which averages around $2.50 per gallon.

Glycerin is a waste by-product of biodiesel production that can be composted and is not hazardous. However, the crew at Public Works is developing a program to use the glycerin in soap making which will be used at city facilities and also used for public education opportunities with younger students through outreach efforts.

Water quality is an important factor to everyone’s way of life in south Baldwin County. It effects the fishing, boating and tourism industries, as well as the clean drinking water consumed on a daily basis all around Pleasure Island. If the grease is recycled, rather than poured down a drain or thrown on the ground to seep in the groundwater, the waterways and watersheds are kept cleaner for generations to come.

Likely, one of the most valuable benefit of this “green” initiative is encouraging citizens not from pour used cooking oil down the drain. When this happens, oil and grease plugs can form in sewer mains and water lines which leads to clogging and maintenance issues for utility crews. This is a costly problem for home, business and property owners as well as utility companies and municipalities as they strive to keep systems flowing as efficiently as possible.

Tim Tucker, Public Works director for the city of Orange Beach is pleased with the start of the recycling program,

“The more grease we collect, the more we keep out of our lines, the better off we all are,” Tucker said.

To find out more about the recycling of used cooking oil programs or any other city of Orange Beach Recycling effort, call 251-981-1063 or visit cityoforangebeach.com.