Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has ordered a Buffalo company that takes used cooking oil for recycling to shut down operations. The owner tells WBEN the DEC keeps changing regulations.
Owner Sumit Majumdar recently celebrated his 20th anniversary, but uncorking champagne is the last thing on his mind.
"We're not a polluter. We don't even have a smokestack. We don't boil anything or burn anything, and it's whatever we've been doing, we've been doing for the last 20 years," said Majumdar with WBEN. "What happened was we were operating by registration, and they changed the regulations for the DEC in 2017, I believe. That's what put us under the new regulatory requirements."
According to Majumdar, the new regulation for the way he was operating was pre-existing, and he's still operating that way.
"We hired a engineer to come in full-time and to work on that application process, which we did, and he submitted an application," Majumdar added.
He says the DEC considered the application poor, so he hired an engineering firm to address it.
"They did a draft in 2021 and we didn't hear anything from the DEC. We did the sound studies, and we did all the other stuff," Majumdar noted.
Then Majumdar says a complaint was filed against his company.
"The cease order was issued, we contacted DEC immediately, and was able to obtain an extension," he said.
A big question if the DEC isn't satisfied with Buffalo Biodiesel's application this time, is where will restaurants go to recycle fuel?
"They're going to have to go back to whoever the major companies are, and they're really made for very large companies," Majumdar said. "I'm assuming they would go to them, but in this area, there's not a lot of options. We have 28,000 restaurants we service in 15 states, and then all of that material is brought back to Buffalo or Tonawanda, and we recycle it. And what we do is actually export it out of state. So it brings in all these revenues to the local community."
Majumdar adds the oil collected reduces the carbon emissions by 19.2 pounds per-gallon.
The deadline is Aug. 29.