Asheville Restaurants to Recycle with Local Biofuels Producers under New Certification
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) Restaurants in Asheville, N.C., are now required to recycle their used cooking oil through local biofuels producers in order to receive Green Restaurant Association (GRA) certification. The GRA is a national nonprofit organization helping restaurants become more environmentally responsible. Thanks in part to Biofuels Center civic and small-scale biofuels projects manager Leif Forer, Asheville adds its name to a short list of cities with the requirement, including Baltimore, Md.; Boston, Mass.; and Portland, Ore. Prior to the decision, restaurants in Asheville receiving GRA certification were permitted to use any service provider, the majority of which are based outside of North Carolina. These service providers take the valuable resource of used cooking oil away from the local economy and from biofuels production, thus adding to a restaurant’s carbon footprint instead of improving it. READ MORE
