油價暴跌殃及美國地溝油
Ructions in the global oil market have spread to restaurant kitchens across the US as chefs who once had buyers vying for used cooking oil find they must now pay to have it taken away.
全球石油市場的動盪已波及全美各餐館的廚房，原因是曾令買家爭相購買用過的食用油的廚師們，如今發現必須自掏腰包把它們運走。
The rise of US biodiesel, refined from fats and vegetable oils, turned a waste product into a sought-after commodity when crude prices were high, even attracting the attention of thieves armed with vacuum hoses.
生物柴油是一種從動物脂肪和蔬菜油中提煉出的燃料。在原油價格高企之時，美國生物柴油的崛起將廢品變成了備受追捧的商品，甚至還吸引了配備真空抽吸軟管的偷油賊。
But the collapse in crude oil prices has blunted biodiesel’s edge against conventional diesel. Production capacity at the refineries which turn fat into fuel is also far larger than demand, causing the US biodiesel industry to lose about $130m last year, a University of Illinois economist has estimated.
然而，原油價格的暴跌，令生物柴油對常規柴油的優勢不再明顯。而在將動物脂肪轉化爲燃料的各提煉廠，產能也遠遠高於需求。據伊利諾伊大學(University of Illinois)一位經濟學家估計，這導致美國生物柴油產業去年虧損約1.3億美元。
In 2013, benchmark yellow grease sold for 36 cents per pound, according to price reporting service The Jacobsen. As biorefineries’ financial woes have crept upstream, wholesale grease now sells for less than 20 cents.
根據報價服務The Jacobsen提供的數據，2013年基準的黃脂膏售價爲每磅36美分。而隨着生物柴油提煉廠的財務困境蔓延至上游，批發黃脂膏如今的售價還不到每磅20美分。
“It used to be we paid customers for their oil. Now, people are charging to pick up the oil,” said Natalie Chakov, office manager of the Green Oil Recycling group in New York, which has stopped collecting cooking oil to focus on cleaning grease traps.
紐約綠油回收組織(Green Oil Recycling)辦公室主任納塔莉瀠科夫(Natalie Chakov)表示：“過去往往是我們出錢向客戶買油。如今，人們要收錢纔會把油取走。”目前，綠油回收組織已停止收集食用油，轉而專注於清洗隔油器的業務。
Last week, a court-ordered liquidation began for Grease Lightning, a collector founded in 2010 whose smudged tank trucks were once a common sight outside pubs and restaurants around New York City.
上週，針對Grease Lightning的法庭清盤令開始執行。該公司是一家成立於2010年的收集公司，其污穢的油罐車一度是全紐約市酒吧和餐館外的常見風景。
NYC Hospitality Alliance, a restaurant industry group, confirmed most hauliers would no longer pay for used oil. At the peak, refineries were paying collectors $3 a gallon for rendered cooking oil, said Ryan Faulkner, general manager of the Virginia Biodiesel Refinery company. As those prices have declined, “you can’t afford to pay a anything”, he said.
餐館行業組織——紐約市酒店聯盟(NYC Hospitality Alliance)證實，多數承運商不願再爲用過的食用油付錢。弗吉尼亞生物柴油提煉公司(Virginia Biodiesel Refinery)董事總經理瑞恩輠克納(Ryan Faulkner)表示，價格最高的時候，提煉廠會爲用過的食用油向收集公司支付每加侖3美元。他說，隨着價格的下跌，“人們再也沒法向餐館支付任何報酬了”。
Some large fast-food chains are faring better. Yum Brands, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, told the Financial Times: “We partner with contractors who pick up our used cooking oil and reuse it for biodiesel and animal feed. We do not pay them to do this, they pay us.”
一些大型快餐連鎖在這方面更爲成功。經營肯德基(KFC)、必勝客(Pizza Hut)和塔可鍾(Taco Bell)的百勝餐飲集團(Yum Brands)告訴英國《金融時報》：“我們和承包商合作，它們收集我們使用過的食用油，然後用其生產生物柴油和動物飼料。我們不付錢讓它們這樣做，它們付錢給我們。”
And there may yet be hope for smaller restaurateurs. The federal government recently decided to require at least 1.9bn gallons of biodiesel use this year, almost double the amount outlined in a 2007 law. Congress also recently reauthorised a biodiesel tax credit for this year and next.
對於更小的餐館而言，希望可能還是存在的。聯邦政府最近決定要求今年生物柴油的使用量至少達到19億加侖，幾乎是2007年出臺的一項法律中規定數額的兩倍。國會最近還重新批准了今年和下一年的生物柴油稅收抵免。
