Pacific Biodiesel highlights energy security, circularity on National Biodiesel Day

Pacific Biodiesel Director of Operations Jenna Long fuels up her vehicle with 100 percent biodiesel. The retail price of the company’s locally produced biodiesel has remain unchanged for more than a year. (Photo: Pacific Biodiesel)

As the nation’s longest-operating biodiesel producer, Pacific Biodiesel celebrated National Biodiesel Day March 18.

“Given the volatility of global energy markets, locally produced biodiesel is now more critically important than ever before—not only for the environment, but for energy security and national security,” said Jenna Long, Pacific Biodiesel’s director of operations.

“With petroleum prices rising sharply these past couple weeks, it is important to note that Pacific Biodiesel’s fuel prices have remained unchanged for more than a year,” she said.

Coincidentally, March 18 is also Global Recycling Day.

“Every drop of used cooking oil (UCO) we divert from Hawaii’s landfills helps us produce biodiesel for Hawaii,” Long said.

In 2025, Pacific Biodiesel’s Oahu preproduction plant increased its grease-trap processing by 30 percent, according to Long, bringing in even more local feedstock for biodiesel production at the company’s Hawaii Island refinery.

“Today is also part of National Agriculture Week,” she noted. “We’re excited to be continually expanding our agriculture operations. These efforts support local food and fuel—with culinary oils produced for local restaurants, which we later recover as feedstock for our biodiesel production. Agriculture is helping us to provide more of our own inputs locally.”

For the 15th year in a row, Pacific Biodiesel has been named one of Hawaii’s “Best Places to Work” by Hawaii Magazine.

“Mahalo to our dedicated employees who provided the input to receive this acknowledgement,” Long said.

Garrett Morrero, CEO and co-founder of Maui Brewing Co. and longtime biodiesel supporter. This year marks his company’s 21st anniversary. (Photo: Pacific Biodiesel)

To commemorate both National Biodiesel Day and Global Recycling Day, Pacific Biodiesel gave a special “mahalo” shoutout to Maui Brewing Co., the first food and beverage producer in Hawaii to utilize Pacific Biodiesel’s local biodiesel to help power its manufacturing operations and recycle UCO from its restaurant operations statewide back into biodiesel.

Pacific Biodiesel estimates that this one customer alone in the past year has recycled enough UCO with it to manufacture nearly 18,000 gallons of biodiesel.

“When these gallons of 100 percent renewable fuel were later used in diesel engines around the state—from electricity production to powering boats, cars and trucks—it helped prevent nearly 377,349 pounds, or 171 metric tons, of CO2 from entering the atmosphere and polluting the environment,” Pacific Biodiesel noted.

Over the past 12 months, Maui Brewing used nearly 17,000 gallons of biodiesel to power its generators.

“For every gallon of UCO recycled by Pacific Biodiesel, we are able to produce nearly 1 gallon of premium distilled biodiesel at our refinery on Hawaii Island,” Pacific Biodiesel stated. “That means the cumulative gallons of UCO recycled from Maui Brewing restaurants over the past 12 months enabled us to produce nearly the same amount of biodiesel utilized in the company’s generators last year. Talk about full-circle sustainability! Mahalo, Maui Brewing Co.! We are grateful to you and all our customers who help contribute to a cleaner, greener, healthier Hawaii.”