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A Brisbane-based used cooking oil recycling business has carved out a significant niche in Queensland's poultry and livestock feed market, while continuing to address a municipal waste problem that originally inspired its launch.
Gold Oil Solutions, founded in 2020 by directors Chris Chrysostomou and Len Hutton, collects waste cooking oil from south-east Queensland and distributes replacement oils, including Australian canola, to restaurants, cafes, and feed manufacturers.
The venture was born from a desire to ease pressure on Brisbane's wastewater system. 'Len read about fatbergs and the problems they were causing, and he approached me to see if we could find a way to try and resolve the issue of people putting waste oil into the public system,' Mr Chrysostomou said.
The pair approached Brisbane City Council, which led to the installation of collection points at four resource recovery centres in Chandler, Ferny Grove, Nudgee, and Willawong. These sites formed the foundation of the company's collection volume, now supplemented by pickups from cafes and restaurants across Brisbane and beyond.
Mr Hutton's father, Frank Hutton, was the principal of Associated Oils, once Australia's largest used cooking oil recycler. While the Victorian-based family business Cookers has a national presence and caters to large-scale operators, Gold Oil Solutions has found its market by focusing on smaller clients.
'We're interested in those businesses with one to five shops, and we're Queensland-orientated,' Mr Chrysostomou said.
The company has also engineered its own collection equipment. Its fleet of hatch-style tanks and flat-top stainless steel tanks, designed by Len Hutton, improve workplace health and safety for staff handling hot oil. 'People were having to lift heavy pots away from the body, and what we've made is a tank with a splashback that gives you a bigger area to pour into, and at waist height,' Mr Chrysostomou said.
In 2022, Gold Oil Solutions expanded into oil distribution, becoming a partner for Goodrop, initially part of Riverina Oils, and later for the associated entity Sherman Foods in south-east Queensland, a region devoid of any large-scale oilseed crushers. Sherman Foods is the national distributor for Riverina Oils, which annually crushes around 200,000 tonnes of canola, most or all of it grown in southern New South Wales, at its plant in Bomen near Wagga Wagga.
'They launched into the Queensland market, and they were happy for us to become a distributor of their packaged goods,' Mr Chrysostomou said. 'They were initially doing boxes and tins, but now supply regular bulk B-double deliveries to service our trolley, IBC and bulk-delivery customers.'
The company's product range is dominated by canola oil from the Wagga Wagga plant, alongside cottonseed oil and high-oleic sunflower oil. Bulk oil is decanted into storage tanks at the company's Lytton Road site in Brisbane before distribution.
The company's most significant customer is Darwalla Milling. Darwalla feed manager Gary Heidenreich said Gold Oil Solutions deliveries have become a staple at both its Mt Cotton mill for broiler feed south of Brisbane, and at its breeding facility in Clifton on the Darling Downs. Together, the two sites generally purchase all the refined used cooking oil Gold Oil Solutions produces.
'It's a dust suppressant, but its main role is providing energy for the birds,' Mr Heidenreich said. 'What we use most of is wheat, and wheat is low in energy and low in protein. We can draw energy from all materials, and what we can't get from meals and grains, we can get from oil.'
Darwalla varies its inputs and proportions according to price, typically working with Gold Oil Solutions on a three-to-six-month usage projection. 'What we normally do with Chris and Len is take a guesstimate on the usage, and put it in a three to six-month projection,' Mr Heidenreich said.
Gold Oil Solutions now operates a fleet of around ten trucks, including a recently acquired prime mover capable of hauling a tank with a 23,000-litre capacity. The tanks serve dual purposes: collecting used cooking oil and distributing fresh replacement oil.
Despite the growing interest in biofuels, Mr Chrysostomou said the business currently finds the feed market more attractive. The company supplied the biofuel industry in its early days but has since prioritised its relationship with Darwalla. 'We've always made sure we didn't leave them short,' he said. 'We're adjacent to the Ampol refinery and in years to come, that may be of some interest to us. However, we've seen a better return from the animal-feed sector.'
This strategic focus means Gold Oil Solutions is now actively seeking additional customers in the poultry or livestock sector to supplement demand from Darwalla.
Source: Grain Central