When BOCA dubs itself a modern restaurant it is not referring only to its high-end cuisine. At the top of a list of awards for its food, wine and people, BOCA places the Sustainable Business Model of the Year award it won at the Gulf Sustainability Awards 2021. BOCA is one of the top restaurants in Dubai’s chic International Financial Centre (DIFC) and has pioneered the numerical concepts of sustainability in its restaurant, with all carbon footprints being assessed, measured, and replaced where possible.
BOCA’s comprehensive sustainability strategy includes running on solar energy, local sourcing and diligent waste reduction. Now the restaurant has upped the ante and is having its used cooking oil collected by Neutral Fuels, the company that has made a commercial success of recycling waste oil into biodiesel.
Omar Shihab, BOCA General Manager who has put sustainability at the top of the company by also taking on the role of Sustainability Lead, says the restaurant is serious about playing its part in meeting the UAE’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
"As a locally grown restaurant serving Dubai and its visitors, we’re fully subscribed to supporting our city’s sustainability objectives," says Shihab. "Knowing that our used cooking oil is not only being responsibly discarded but is also being transformed into clean green fuel, helps us all sleep better at night."
Karl W Feilder, CEO of Neutral Fuels, says that when the company started in 2011 they collected oil only from restaurant chains. "While the chains remain essential to our operation, we’re seeing a trend for exclusive restaurants like BOCA to offer us their oil. They understand that consumers are increasingly choosing companies that have authentic green credentials."
Shihab has praised the Neutral Fuels oil collection system. "It’s the cleanest and easiest waste oil system we’ve ever seen," he says. "Neutral Fuels supplies a reusable oil container, the ROC, and a mobile app called iCollect. When a ROC is full they appear as if by magic, wheel in a clean empty ROC and wheel away the full one. They really understand logistics and fit seamlessly into our operation."
Neutral Fuels is working closely with local government in every one of its locations, which currently include the GCC, India and Africa, to mandate that all used cooking oil must be recycled into biodiesel in compliance with the international Basel Convention on Waste Management. Abu Dhabi has already mandated the recycling of its used oil and other cities like Dubai are sure to follow. The sooner every restaurant gets into the system, the better for the environment.