How used cooking oil is employing Romania’s disabled population

Romania today faces two seemingly unrelated challenges. First, used cooking oil ends up being poured down the drain or discarded as waste into nature, causing environmental pollution and damaging drainage systems. Second, employment rates among people with disabilities in Romania remain strikingly low – only less than 10 % have jobs, while the EU average is 45%.

These problems may seem unconnected at first glance. However, the Romanian social enterprise OilRight, developed a solution addressing both issues simultaneously. The organisation employs disabled Romanians to create scented candles out of used cooking oil. They produce around 10 000 candles per year and employ 4 disabled persons. Over the years, they created work and learning opportunities for 12 persons, that now work in the mainstream labour market. 

Tracing oil

Despite their success, OilRight has recently run into a problem. They were struggling to collect enough cooking oil to fuel their production. "After our third year we realised we hit a bottleneck," reported Roxana Damaschin-Țecu, co-founder of OilRight. The social enterprise had installed collection boxes in public spaces where people could donate their used cooking oil. However, it proved to be very labour-intensive to constantly check the levels of these boxes. There was also a lack of funds to invest in additional boxes to keep up with demand.

That is why the social enterprise called in the help of ADR Vest, the local chapter of the Enterprise Europe Network. They helped OilRight take several important steps, such as securing a EUR 8 000 grant through the SEE BRIDGE Open Call for social economy SMEs. With this grant, they were able to certify their used cooling oil collection process and received business support, mentoring and training. 

OilRight digitalised its operations through the implementation of a traceability and logistics system, including digital recordings for the collected oil, with quantities, sources and dates. Geotagging also made the oil boxes easier for individuals to find. Finally, online forms and a dedicated phone line allowed individuals and companies to schedule pickups. In the future, OilRight also wants to invest in optimising pickup routes to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Digitalisation allowed OilRight to get compliant with International Sustainability & Carbon Certification standards.

"The Network advisor helped us in so many ways," said Damaschin-Țecu. "Through the Enterprise Europe Network and with the help of PRAXI Network of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas, we connected with a similar initiative in Crete who showed us how they operate and laid the first steps of the client journey. The Network advisor also helped us contact local waste management companies to collect used cooking oil from dedicated spaces near existing waste bins. And finally, they provided us with key digital expertise. Without them, we could not have accomplished this transformation."

Crescendo

ADR Vest advisor Cristian Gotia remembers approaching OilRight in the beginning. "They were the first social economy business that we advised in this way," he said. "We had no prior experience doing this, but the results were great. Our help allowed OilRight to reach a crescendo."

Since the start of the cooperation with the Enterprise Europe Network, OilRight has managed to grow markedly. It tripled its turnover, started making a profit and hired one additional staff member. However, the Network’s efforts are not over, nor does OilRight want to stop growing.

At OilRight they are enthusiastic about the future. In the short-term they want to improve their digital marketing, further digitalise their operations, improve traceability and green labelling of their products, and improve their sales capacity.

But beyond that, they also have bigger goals in mind. "We have many plans for the future," said Damaschin-Țecu. "From using greener technologies such as solar energy to reduce emissions, to cooperating with local businesses, restaurants, and households to collect used cooking oil at a larger scale. We want to expand OilRight’s green business model into other Romanian cities and neighbouring EU countries. We want to become a regional leader in recycled oil-based products."