The black and white of green

There you go again, forgetting the canvas bags you pledged to use at the grocery store. Before you know it, you’re taking home a dozen bags that end up either stowed or thrown away. Shame on you if they’re plastic, says environmental advocate earth911.com, which reports more than 380 billion plastic grocery bags are tossed annually, mucking up waterways and taking 1,000 years to decompose.

Now, supermarkets are doing their share to recycle—or rule out—plastic bags. All Albertsons grocery stores nationwide, for example, are drop-off points for bag recycling, while Whole Foods Market stores started to phase out plastic bags April 22, Earth Day. Whole Foods’ Louisiana stores also give a 10-cent discount for each reusable bag you remember to bring, and a 5-cent discount for simply reusing bags stowed from your last shopping trip. —M.H.R.

The green revolution has all the trappings of New Year’s Day. Inspired, you wake up pledging to reduce your tremendous carbon footprint with new habits like using canvas grocery bags, carpooling or planting late-harvest tomatoes to avoid those shipped by diesel-guzzling semis. Try as we might, though, most of us fall off the eco-wagon sooner than later.

Some in Baton Rouge, however, have raised the bar on environmentally-responsible living. Some are regular citizens, some community leaders, while others are making a living off the growing trend. All of them believe that small steps matter, that green habits aren’t hard and that this kind of change feels good.

This month 225 brings you the first installment of a series exploring the costs and benefits of cutting down on pollution. We will bring you stories of Baton Rougeans who are taking action to reduce their consumption of fuel and their production of waste.

Driving and frying

Not to brag, but Brad Miller can drive all the way to Georgia and barely make a dent in a tank of diesel. And that’s in his 2001 Ford 250, not the typical green machine. Miller’s dirty little secret—emphasis on dirty—is the 55-gallon tank of waste vegetable oil in the back of his truck.

Two years ago, using a kit ordered on-line, Miller and his buddies upgraded the truck to a hybrid system that can run on both diesel and grease.

Miller is first to admit, grease is messy, which is one of the costs. He’s got a verbal agreement with a local restaurant to collect all their waste oil and to keep their grease area clean.

But in the process of transferring grease, “no matter how careful you are, you’re gonna spill on yourself, your clothes, your driveway, your vehicle. If you live in an apartment, you can’t just do it in the parking lot,” he says.

It takes Miller about two-and-a-half hours to collect, store and filter enough grease to fill a 55-gallon tank. That tank will take him about 700 miles. Since his upgrade, Miller’s driven 45,000 miles using one-third diesel and two-thirds grease. His grease system works best for trips longer than five miles. Even after his initial $2,000 upgrade investment and his ongoing cost of $10-15 per grease tank for filters, Miller estimates he’s saved between $5,000 and $6,000 in fuel costs running on grease.

Miller learned an interesting connection between diesel engines and grease when he first started doing research: Rudolph Diesel designed the diesel engine to run on vegetable oil. Miller finds great satisfaction in restoring his engine to its intended use. And then, there’s something to be said for a co-worker popping his head into the lunchroom to say he’s kept six gallons of turkey grease in his garage since Thanksgiving.

According to Miller, “the grease had been sitting so long it was clean enough to pour right in my tank.” He did his own thanks-giving and drove off. —A.N.

About three months ago, Patrick Luke told a coworker at Mezzo Systems, “I’m rollin’ to work from here on out.”
Now he’s got three others committed, including the boss. Luke pedaled into June without needing to fill the tank of his Volkswagen Jetta since the end of March. Luke lives about two and a half miles from work, so he figures he saves about $80-100 a month in gas by opting for two wheels. Even better, “I enjoy going to work. We’re sitting back, talking to the boss about the trees. Everyone looks forward to it,” he says. —A.N.

Driving a grease car

The costs:

• $2,000 for the grease filtering, storing and pumping equipment

• $10 per 55-gallon tank for filters

• Handling all that grease is messy

The benefits:

• A tank of used frying oil takes him 700 miles

• He’s saved $5,000 to $6,000 in two years