CHASING
FULL RECOVERY VIA THE GREEN ROUTE
It's time to set the record straight about Fred Wren.
The larger than life Californian farmer-turned-environmentalist has
too much invested in Western Australia to be the millionaire some suspect
he already is.
But
if the financial rewards do come his way Western Australians should
be grateful. Because Fred Wren's success will be in direct proportion
to the environmental benefits accrued by WA. It will happen because
Fred Wren and his family had the courage and the vision to decide it
was time for them to take an active part in recycling the oil which
is a legacy of our automotive, transport, mining, agricultural and other
industries.
History
will show that once taken, the decision to inaugurate Wren Oil was not
implemented without considerable dramas of a fiscal, political and environmental
nature.
The
amount of money invested in the Wren Oil refinery and recycling plant
at Picton near Bunbury, is mind-blowing. There are enough Wren Oil trucks
collecting used oils, hydraulic fluids, coolant and other liquids on
a statewide basis to do justice to a significant transport outfit.
They drag in about 12 million litres of oil from collection runs which
cover the state from the south coast, east to the Goldfields, north
through the Pilbara and beyond.
Wren
guarantees that every last drop will be recycled. Because his company
is so good at its job. not only does the environment benefit, we all
have more money in our pockets as well. That's because much of Wren's
used oil is recycled to fuel Western Power generating stations. This
results in an across-the-state cost saving as well as significant
environmen`tal benefits so we all pay less for power. Believe me,
its better to use the stuff than try to jettison it.
It is a favorite Wren Oil saying that one litre of oil can contaminate
a million litres of groundwater. Much smarter to clean and use oil as
at least a fuel source.
There
are various levels of that fuel produced by Wren. In its most basic
form it powers brickworks, foundries, abattoirs as well as Western Power
installations. Which means those businesses spend less so there's more
money to go around, more protection for a finite resource. Which probably
pleases everyone but the initial producers.
They too, have been charged with accepting responsibility for lubrication
oils they produce. Producers have to be able to account for oils produced
and oils sold. It's called oil stewardship and it comes at a charge
to the user to cover the cost of looking after that oil.
There's
no charge for the Wren Oil service, however. It will supply on-site
inspection tanks, will collect waste oils and coolants according to
regular schedules and it will even ensure a secure future for old oily
rags. There are second lives to be lived by used solvents and water-based
parts washing fluids and such a horde of other products recovered we
should blush in memory of those fluids we use to toss away. Too often
as latent environmental hazards no-one particularly cared about.
Wren Oil's is a good news story. Its recovered product include kero,
petrol, diesel and glycol, while the re-refining process also includes
concrete mould oil, chainsaw bar oil and hydraulic oil. Re-refined motor
oil could be a real possibility for the future.
There
are some wastes from Wren which don't have ready sales appeal. But they
are not allowed to degrade the environment either. A system of sludge
treatments and disposal and biological or evaporative on site oily water
treatments means that any surplus is environmentally benign. Even some
of these wastes live again; they are recycled for refinery washdowns.
None
of this happened by chance. It happened because Fred Wren saw an opportunity
to supply secondlife fuel oil to a local abattoir and it grew from
there. It happened despite some heavy duty commercial battles and it
happened solidly enough to give Fred the confidence to return to his
native US to buy technology to enable him to refine products even further.
That
meant very substantial investments, involving an enormous vote of confidence
in the future of going green when Fred Wren bought a complete processing
package from his native US. He showed me round the place, but, techo-simpleton
as he must believe me to be, I'm certain it would take me days to get
my head round the intricacies of this operation. Which doesn't really
matter at all. What does matter is that the 12 million litre Wren Oil
harvest represents less than a half of used WA oils which could be treated.
If
the majority of that gets into the Wren Oil pipeline, the environmental
benefits accruing to WA will be enormous.
I
get the distinct impress that if anyone can make it work, Fred Wren
can. Especially now sons Alex and David are fully fledged members of
the operation, looking after transport and refining matters respectively.
Written
by David Lloyd - Editor
Motor Western Australia
Publication of the Motor Trade Association of Western Australia
Volume 66 March 2001
ISSN 1442-8148