Thieves Seek Restaurants’ Used Fryer Oil
Companies that collect used cooking grease from restaurants across the country have turned to all forms of sleuthing in recent years. Private investigators. Surveillance cameras. Rigged alarms. And still, containers full of used fryer oil are slipping through their fingers.
For years, restaurants had to pay companies to haul away the old grease, which was used mostly in animal feed. Some gave it away to local gearheads, who used it to make biodiesel for their converted car engines.
But with a demand for biofuel rising, fryer oil now trades on a booming commodities market, commanding around 40 cents per pound, about four times what it sold for 10 years ago. That makes it a tempting target for thieves, especially in hard times.
California and now Virginia have enacted special statutes to regulate grease collection from commercial kitchens; North Carolina legislators may vote on a similar law in May. But while some law enforcement agencies, especially in California, have become increasingly watchful about the problem, the courts have lagged behind.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/us/restaurants-used-fryer-oil-attracting-thieves.html
the article also referenced an episode of "The Simpsons" from 1998, "Lard of the Dance", about Homer selling grease in a similar manner.