by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM News Monday, February 18, 2008 Subscribe to Ronna's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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Located in the southern village of Agat, the Guam Refinery and Environmental Services Company (GRESCO) has not only recycled and refined used oil for well over a decade, but also has more recently partnered up with a mainland company in the hopes keeping our wastewater systems clear of fats, oil and grease. You could say that the organization has been the pioneer of used oil recycling on our island since 1993.

Whether it comes from your home or from businesses, GRESCO either sells the old oil to burn as an alternate fuel or re-refines it for use as well. Company vice-president and general manager Dave Taitano explained, saying, "We are the only company doing it through our own system. Other companies pick up the oil and they pretty much dump it at the Guam Power Authority. We're the only ones who have our only facility to do it."

It's a win/win situation according to Taitano, with GRESCO being a successful business that also aims to help out the environment. He says monthly they have the ability to recycle about 100,000 gallons of used oil, and since opening Taitano says around 5 million gallons have been recycled. "It's kind of a passthrough process," he said. "The oil is brought to the island and used as a lubricant in your cars. We pick up the used oil, clean it up and sell it to the power plant and they burn it as a fuel or we sell it to an asphalt plant or vessel or boiler."

GRESCO can essentially be broken down into two separate facets: the oil recycling and refinery portion, and an environmental services concern. So around midway last year, according to research and development manager Richard Cruz, the company decided to branch out and seek innovative solutions that could provide them with greener options for wastewaster treatment and fats, oils and grease disposal. Cruz says MicroBac out of Texas has provided them with just that.

Cruz said, "What we've found along with MicroBac is that you can develop and design something from nature to solve your problems, such as with wastewater treatment and fats, oils and grease. When we apply our MicroBac products in there is no need to pump out the fats, oils and grease. It's a naturally occurring bacteria that consumes it and after it consumes it, it converts itself into carbon dioxide."

MicroBac is a non-hazardous, non-toxic marine bacteria that can be used in not only residential drains and toilets, but also those of hotels. Cruz says it's not target specific and will not only alleviate the grease trap itself, but also continue remediating all the way down the line to one of the Guam Waterworks Authority's substations or eventually even the treatment stations. And that proves to be mutually beneficial to the consumer and the environment.

Continued Cruz, "The Marianas and Micronesia are such small islands that any impact we create though it's not visibly present, certainly our children's generations will feel the impact. And what we're trying to do is our part to ensure future generations can enjoy the same benefits Guam has offered us."

If you have used motor or petroleum oil at your residence, Taitano says they have a program for households to accept it, within reasonable amounts, at no charge.