This team hits the roads of Chennai looking for used cooking oil

Chennai-based Uranus Oil Company has partnered with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to extend this initiative

Amidst the bustling traffic, an electric vehicle is doing the rounds stopping at restaurants, cloud kitchens and hotels to collect cooking oil that cannot be used anymore — in fact, dangerous to human health if it were pressed into cooking duty any longer.

Founded by Vasanth J.B., Venkateshwaran S., and Srindhi B. in 2020, Uranus Oil Company is partnering with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in this work; and is collaborating with bio-diesel plants, only those registered under FSSAI.

It has a giant footprint in Chennai, having born as a startup in this metro, and according to Vasanth, also has a foot gently planted in a few states across India, carrying out operations there with the help of channel partners.

“We are a young company driven by the goal of promoting sustainability and a circular economy across the country,” says Vasanth. “We focus on used cooking oil (UCO) because it is not only widely available but also a hazardous waste when reused and consumed by humans. We collect UCO from star hotels, restaurant chains, government canteens, universities, and many food businesses and aggregate it. We have an ambitious target in mind, but we are working hard to reach it. We aim to hit 40 tons per day soon,” he adds.

The process

First, customers reach out to Uranus Oil Comopany; and they are assigned a dedicated team. Next, representatives contact the customer to assess if they have a steady supply of used oil. If they do, they are entered into the company’s database and partnership program and provided with a safe used cooking oil kit and storage container.

After the oil is collected hygienically at the customer’s location, payment is made. The UCO is then stored in clean, well-ventilated tanks before being sent to partnered biodiesel manufacturers who convert it into biodiesel.