ATLANTA - A group of restaurants has partnered with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Clean Energy Biofuels to provide used fryer oil to a retail station, the National Restaurant Association reports. The new biodiesel fueling station opened June 21 in Atlanta.

Any foodservice establishment can participate in the program, said McKay Johnson, president of Clean Energy Biofuels. Two hundred restaurants store the used grease in outdoor bins, which the station collects each month. Participants, which include Baja Fresh, Café Circa, Fifth Group Restaurants, Moe??s Southwest Grill and Ruth??s Chris, receive a quarterly payment for the used oil.

Clean Energy Biofuels exclusively uses the used oil to make biodiesel fuel. "What we do differently is [provide] a full-circle mentality that allows people to see that when they give us their grease we're turning it into biodiesel," said Johnson. "They can see how it's helping the local economy and environment."

"The Atlanta retail biofuel station is a perfect example of the community working together on a local solution where everyone wins," said Holly Elmore, Elemental Impact's founder and CEO. "The spent fryer grease is collected from the local foodservice operators, made into biodiesel at a local production facility and sold to local consumers for clean energy transportation."