“Eww that smell! Can’t you smell that smell?”

While everyone comes to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the sun and sand I spent my summer a little different from most.  I spent my summer working at Coastal Biodiesel Group as a marketing intern.  I may be the palest girl in Myrtle Beach but I have definitely been enriched in the last three months in other ways.  I have learned a lot about a greener approach to energy and got a better feel for the business world. The biofuel business may not have been the cleanest business to choose but it has a substantially clean effect on the environment. 

All of the marketing books in the world couldn’t touch the amount that I have learned in the last few months of my internship. I have done things that I didn’t know I could do.  One of the most valuable lessons I learned was how strong a company can be when everyone is working together to achieve the same company goal.  When we put ourselves aside we can create a bigger picture which truly creates larger and long-lasting results.

As the fall will soon be creeping up and I will be returning to classes full-time.  With a new type of work load, I will have to end my internship.  I am very thankful for my coworkers who have taught me so much about the biofuel business and have been ever so helpful.  I’d love to return to this company and help Coastal Biodiesel Group make an impact on our environment starting at a local level which inevitably expands to a global impact.

I recommend that every college student gets involved in an internship especially one in which they can be truly proud of. I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to work in the green energy business. Even though my internship is coming to an end my efforts to educate others on the benefits of biofuels and green energy won’t.

The Smoking Drum

It’s happening everywhere! Check out this news article!

In a time where the need for a restaurants vegetable oil has increased for the bio fuel business many people have join in the process of converting this oil into biodiesel fuel.  So in return the business has begun to see a lot of theft.   I guess when the economy is at a low you truly see this kind of behavior in all businesses.  So how is this affecting restaurants?  Well as a restaurant manager everything is about numbers, such as labor, customer count, sales, and inventory.  Well your inedible yellow grease is a number that is very important to a restaurant that is very over looked.  For example, when a company like Coastal Biodiesel Group collects your oil then pays you for it by the gallon it becomes an instant positive number to help out your bottom line.  So, when your rebate checks are dispersed quarterly to your business it just helps out your bottom line creating cash flow.  Years ago it was just about unheard of to have the oil collectors pay you.  In fact many restaurants were actually paying to have the oil removed. The sad thing is that some restaurants continue to pay to have it disposed of when there are companies like Coastal BioDiesel Group who are willing to pay for the used oil. Things have really changed in the oil collection business.  This bio fuel business continues to grow as the need to find a more environmentally safe and economically smart alternatives rise.   We can all agree going “GREEN” is the next step in being proactive in conserving our resources.  So, this is why our focus on where the used cooking oil is going is so important. 

CBG disperses rebate checks quarterly to businesses.  These checks are based on the amount of inedible yellow grease the company puts into our containers.  Our drivers then come and pump the containers so they can turn and process it into bio fuel. 

The problem arises when theft comes into play. First and foremost when theft of this oil occurs it effects everyone.  It hurts your business because the less grease you have the less of a rebate you will receive.  It hurts us because we don’t have the yellow grease to process into bio fuel.  When it comes to theft in any aspect there are very few things in which you can do to prevent it but there are precautionary measures in which can be take.  First of all, many companies will place another used oil container directly next to ours. Many workers don’t know which bin is paying out the rebates.  Educating your employees is a great way to make sure the oil is being placed into the correct container. Many times I have seen the competitors just leave their old containers even after any type of contract that had been made had been dissolved with them. We can’t collect out of their containers so in return no rebate is earned because it is in the wrong container. Also, any worker from CBG will be wearing uniforms with our names on it.  The trucks that also come to collect your used oil will only be Coastal Biodiesel Group trucks. Any other company may be a scam that will remove of your oil but never give you the rebate check in which you deserve. They come during your company’s busy times of day when makes it extremely had to catch. So keep an eye out on the area in which your used oil bin is stored. It can and will save you money. 

When dealing with theft there truly is only so much you can do. The bottom line is that stealing even used cooking oil is against the law and something that can be prosecuted. The amount of oil theft has risen greatly over the last few months. It is expected to continue to rise as we hit busy months. Don’t continue to let people take money out of your business’s pocket.

It’s not easy being “Green”!

Check this out… bp commercial…Ironic!

I know that everyone is tired of hearing and talking about the oil spill in the Gulf but after taking an internship at a Coastal Biodiesel Group’s facility I see a bigger solution than just cleaning up the spill.  I have learned in my first few days with Coastal BioDiesel Group the importance of being proactive in situations not just reactive to problems. Coastal BioDiesel Group collects used restaurant oil for biofuels.  This creates a fuel that burns cleaner and deters the reliance we have on foreign oil and off shore drilling.

 So lets look at it in the perspective of our country relying less on foreign countries for oil and begin recycling waste we have already created.  Off shore drilling may create jobs but yet again are we willing to continue to allow negligent companies to destroy our environment and other facets of survival?  So instead of creating an environmental disaster, what is the hold up on adapting a greener approach?  Since the early 90′s every diesel engine made is equipped to run on biodiesel fuel.  This is yet another reason it is hard to understand why our country is lagging behind other countries in green energy.

It may boil down to the fact that we are a reactive nation.  We sit back and wait for things to go wrong before we respond to the problem.  Disasters are easier to prevent than to fix, which we are slowly starting to learn due to situations such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Coastal BioDiesel Group provides a preventative solution by using a better renewable source of fuel.  At some point and time our country will have to make a change to go green and preserve our planet. Coastal BioDiesel Group also provides a preventative solution by educating their customers on how to handle situations before they become problems. Check out their website for more facts and information at www.coastalbiodiesel.com