Fry, Eagles, fry: How Lincoln Financial Field Recycles Cooking Oil
On Monday morning after the Eagles beat the Los Angeles Rams, seats at Lincoln Financial Field were empty, sunlight trickled through dark stands, and crews of workers swept the stadium collecting trash before power-washing chairs. Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions’ technicians navigated concession stands, pushing vacuum units and filters, servicing deep fryers that once churned out fried chicken tenders and crab fries to tens of thousands of fans.
It takes hundreds of pounds per game to make stadium food golden brown. What remains after the game? The Linc’s oil gets turned into biodiesel to power vehicles and planes, but many steps occur during its transformation. "Dump day," said Derek Riebel, owner of several Filta franchises, who plans to dump every fryer in the stadium.
Last year, Filta’s eight Philadelphia trucks collected 150,000 pounds of oil from 195 fryers, split between 42 concession stands. Filta also services fryers at the Philadelphia Zoo, Drexel University, and hospitals, totaling 1,328,035 pounds of used oil in the region.
Riebel, who grew up in Delaware County and attended the Eagles-Rams game, notes he now serves his hometown team and eats out from the same oil he filtered last week. If you see crumbly oil on a Philly Favorites stand, it feels like melted chocolate—crumbled and laced with chicken nuggets and fries. Filta collects 1,400 pounds of oil during this Monday session alone, with nearly 60 tons recycled this year.
Oil had cooled overnight but can be filtered up to 450°C, crucial for double-header or overlapping sports seasons. Most cooking oil can be recycled, but not lard, which turns into a solid block. All stands use canola oil, with Xfinity mixing soy and canola, and Citizen’s Bank Park using soy alone.
Filta’s teams take 20 minutes per dump day; larger stands take longer. They vacuum, clean, and refill fryers in assembly line fashion. Technicians must wheel their vacuum back to a truck to pump oil into 850-gallon tanks. After 6,000 gallons, spent oil is sent to Mahoney Environmental via truck and transported by train to a Gulf of Mexico refinery for biodiesel production.
This is part of a bigger green initiative: staff composted over 125 tons of food and recycled 84 tons of cardboard. Trash is sorted onsite to prevent landfilling. The Eagles expect over 100 tons of oil to be recycled this year, so next time you see a vehicle running on biodiesel, perhaps your last meal was helping power it.
