Midlands Biofuels Starts Fundraiser for District 5 Foundation

Submitted by Lexington-Richland District Five.

Lexington-Richland School District Five, the District Five Foundation for Educational Excellence and Midlands Biofuels have signed an agreement to encourage local restaurants to sell their used cooking oil to Midlands Biofuels. 

As part of the new Biodiesel 4 Schools District Five initiative, a percentage of the payment for each gallon of cooking oil purchased by or donated to Midlands Biofuels will be given back to the foundation to be used for education grants and projects in the district.

District Five is the first district in South Carolina to implement the Biodiesel 4 Schools initiative. 

“This is a great moment for District Five," Superintendent Stephen Hefner said. "The agreement we are signing today connects many important efforts across the district. It connects our desire to be as environmentally sensitive as possible, our desire to support the Foundation that helps support our teachers and students, our desire to have strong business partners and our desire to expose students to emerging career opportunities. We look forward to the many great things that will come from this initiative.” 

Midlands Biofuels, a South Carolina-based company that produces biodiesels using cooking oils, will provide state-of-the-art collection containers and collection of the oil products. The agreement also allows fuel created by Midlands Biofuels to be sold back to District Five at a discounted rate. Restaurants will be the primary source of the used cooking oil, but individual residents who recycle their cooking oil at county recycling centers will also be included in the agreement, said Midlands Biofuels Owner Joe Renwick.

“To take a waste product that most homeowners and most people around the state literally throw away or dispose of down the drain and to recover that waste oil and produce clean burning biodiesel that can fuel the school buses and the school district is just an amazing thing,” said Renwick. “This has a huge impact, not only as a fundraiser but also in the form of savings for the school district.” 

District 5 Foundation President Paula Hite said the initiative is a way to bring the community together.

"All of the money raised goes right back to the students," Hite said. "There’s also the educational benefits, even the possibilities down the road for career paths for our students.” 

The signing of the agreement took place Thursday at Catch 22 in Chapin, a restaurant that already has agreed to participate in the District Five program.