Vancouver Island company has greasy solution to knock down road dust

A company on Vancouver Island is sharing results from a pilot project from last summer that it says will help reduce dust pollution on B.C.’s dirt roads.

Ergo Eco Solutions, of Cobble Hill, B.C., takes used cooking oil from local restaurants on the mid and south island, refines them using a proprietary process, and converts the food waste into a concentrate that can be mixed with water and spread onto paved roads.

According to CEO Brian Roberts, once applied, the solution binds with the fine particulate matter to reduce dust, while also reinforcing the surface layer of the road to prevent erosion, wear and tear, and pollution.

“I think anybody who's driven on a rural road, and especially behind someone and kind of eaten the dust, knows that it's a problem, both for respiration, for human health and also for visibility and safety on roads,” said Roberts.

“There are so few good solutions for controlling dust on roads right now, and I think that's the thing that we really noticed.”

According to both Roberts and the province, over 90 per cent of B.C. roads are unpaved and require some kind of dust prevention.

Typically, dust is managed by using chloride salts, which Roberts, who has a background as an environmental consultant, says can be corrosive to trucks and damaging to the environment.

Roberts says that the most environmentally-friendly solution on the market right now is to water dirt roads in the summer using a diesel truck – but that typically means trucks would have to water roads two or three times in a day, which can cause additional damage to both the roads, and the trucks.

According to the results from their pilot project last summer, using the refined cooking oil can help reduce water usage by up to 99.5 per cent.

The Malahat Nation was one of the first partners to sign on and use the product. According to the Nation’s chief administrative officer, Josh Handysides, most of the nation's roads are dirt, and dust pollution is prevalent during the summer months.

Last summer, the Malahat Nation signed on to the pilot project, with Ergo Eco Solutions spraying the road three times. Handysides says, you could see a clear line between the areas where the product was applied to the dirt roads, versus the roads that weren’t treated.

“It held up all summer, and really helped hold the road service together as well,” said Handysides.

The Cobblestone Pub is one of the restaurants that has partnered with Ergo Eco Solutions, with Ergo coming by once a week to siphon off used cooking oil from the kitchen, then bringing it back to their facility, located 10 km away, to refine.

According to the manager of the pub, Ashley Carlson, the pub produces about 22 litres of used oil in a day - and have sent Ergo almost 8,000 litres of oil so far.

She says the program helps the pub by recycling their food waste, while also supporting green jobs in the community.

"It's an easy way for us to be more environmentally responsible,” she said.

Roberts says one of the added benefits of the product is that it contributes to the circular economy, creating a local product from local restaurants, and being distributed to partners nearby.