Hotels in Bali ‘sell’ used cooking oil to the public

The Provincial Environmental Agency revealed that several hotels in Bali had sold stocks of used cooking oil to individuals, who later refined the oil before selling them on to the general public as new cooking oil. The agency warned that such practice was not only illegal but also dangerous to public health.

“The end products of this dangerous practice are sold to people from middle- to low-income families, who are easily lured with cheaply priced cooking oil. Used cooking oil, however, is dangerous for human health. [Used oil] also pollutes the environment,” agency head Anak Agung Gede Alit Sastrawan said.

He refused to name the hotels involved in the practice or the sanctions the agency would impose on them. He claimed that the new Environmental Law still lacked supporting regulations, leaving the agency without the legal tools to punish the hotels.

The agency’s monitoring team had found that the hotels involved generated up to 1.5 cubic meters of used oil per day.

“The actual number could be much higher. We have urged the hotels’ managements to deal with the used oil in a proper way,” he said.

Generally, starred hotels hire outside companies to manage their waste. Sastrawan stated the hotels should closely monitor the work practices of their contractors.

“Waste producers should process their waste in accordance with legal standards. If the waste producers hire outside companies to process the waste, then they [the waste producers] should ensure that the contractors adhere to similar standards,” he stressed.

Provincial Trade and Industry Agency head Gede Darmaja confirmed that used cooking oil had been sold as new cooking oil in traditional markets.

“Used cooking oil is collected from hotels and later on is refined to restore its clarity before being sold at cheaper prices,” he said.

The agency has deployed teams to designated markets with one specific task: to seize and recall the oil.

“We have also notified the Food and Drugs Supervisory Agency, which has the authority and means to determine whether a specific product is truly dangerous for human health,” Darmaja added.

The executive director of the Bali Hotels Association (BHA), Djinaldi Gosana, said that he had no information about the dangerous practice.

“As far as I know, starred hotels have good waste management systems and facilities. To be frank, I don’t know that there are hotels selling their used oil to third parties ,” he said, adding that the environmental agency hadn’t sent any warning letter to the association.