Honduras scheme converts cooking oil into soap and dog food

A few children between the ages of 27 are looking at used cooking oil and see a green job opportunity to produce soap or food for dogs.

But this is what Hugo Daniel Chavez, a project manager at the “NGOs” company.

“We have a lot of local companies and practices that create a waste, so we are trying to convert waste and give them a second life,” he says to the BBC.

Through Latin America, several million tons of cooking oil are consumed every year. It is often used to fry food, most of them are chicken, banana, chips and pork.

But reusing and heating it often – as often in Honduras, where there is a huge black market for cooking oil used – can create bad compounds for consumer health.

It is incorrectly disposed of, it can also have a huge harmful effect on the environment.

If they are drained under the sink, pipes can be contaminated and groundwater pollution, and when they are thrown next to the road, fresh water and crops can be contaminated on many societies.

In the face of these health and environmental risks, young green projects have tried to a solution to a solution not only give companies an incentive to get rid of oil and hospitalization properly, but also converting these waste products into something useful.

Ricardo Pinida, Executive Director of NGOs, explains that her idea originated from previous efforts by various companies and institutions to convert cooking oil used into biological diesel fuel. “But in Honduras, we do not have a vital diesel market,” he says.

“So we decided to produce products that could do well in our local markets (such as soap and dog foods).”

In order to make people more attractive to people to legally get rid of oil instead of selling it to non -conscience buyers, Sustnta offers the purchase of used cooking oil and regularly capturing from the stores that participate in their project.

Their efforts gained international recognition, especially when they won a $ 20,000 prize as one of the winners of the 2023 energy challenge, a global initiative submitted by the Italian government and the United Nations Development Program.

SUSTENTA is also receiving funding from the Netherlands embassy in the region, which has told the BBC that she chose the two superstructures because “their project presented an innovative and viable solution, using an adventurous approach that has a social effect.”

“It (their project) not only contributes to reducing the environmental impact by focusing on creating a circular economy, but also enables youth and women – the most affected groups of climate change – and generate green functions.”

Studenta offers between 2.50 and 3.50 Lempiras (0.08 pounds and 0.11 pounds) per pound of cooking oil used.

And not only the small companies you deal with.

In May 2024, NGOs signed a contract with the Mexican giant Walmart and Central Walmart section.

This contract guarantees a flow of cooking oil used and grease from all companies related to Walmart to Sustnta, which Mr. Ponda says is crucial for the Sudenta project.

“We needed a reliable flow to expand production. (…) Otherwise, it can quickly ran out of the cooking oil used, due to the black market competing with us,” added Mr. Chavez.

Then it brings cooking and grease to a plant in Commayagua, where it is purified and treated in a reaction known as Saponification. This process combines fats, oils and alkaline to produce soap.

Mr. Ponda says that Sustnta is keen to develop a “circular environmental system that we reuse everything.”

“Next to our plant that produces soap and dog food, in another person a water purification factory and we use water that the plant cannot purify and waste, for example, for our water cooling system,” explains.

Mr. Pinida says that the idea of ​​collaborating with Walmart is “the sale of dog food and soap that we polished from their waste in Walmart.”

“They can benefit from their own waste as well as seeing the economic value behind the circular economies,” he says to BBC.

In 15 Lempiras (0.45 pounds) per tape of soap, the project achieves monthly revenues for more than 106,000 lempiras (3,194.70 pounds), which excludes fixed costs such as salaries, commissions and distribution.

Mr. Pinida emphasizes that “money does not remain with us.” “We are only helping to implement the project and once you move to running, we are looking for new opportunities,” he says.

Cooking oil recycling is just multiple projects that operate simultaneously in Stadenta.

The organization consists of young people, all of whom are less than 30 years old and are 23 years old, and their youthful enthusiasm and patience with ways to do things were essential to their approach.

“We have started as a young group that is tired of the regular ways of large institutions dealing with issues related to climate change and the environment,” says Mr. Beneeda.

“We want to create actual solutions and not to sit just talking about what can be done.”

Their strategy is also different from those of other young ecosystems in the region, which often focuses on the confrontation approach, in an attempt to stop mining projects or large energy and politicians accountable for corruption.

But the project coordinator in the star, Paola Acevedo, says that the two do not oppose, but rather they complete each other: “This type of (classic) environment is very important and there is no doubt that we need it.”

“We are trying to focus on solutions, while others fight on the front lines,” she added.