The Interview: Edrops, July 2024
In this interview, we’re joined by Sandor Tóth, Director of Edrops UK Ltd, a Henley-on-Thames based environmental company dedicated to the collection, treatment, and recycling of non-hazardous waste—particularly used cooking oil—transforming it into biodiesel through their innovative e-drops program.
1. What sparked the idea to start the company?
The seed for e-drops was planted over 20 years ago — the very first time I made scrambled eggs. Even back then, pouring oil down the sink just felt wrong. It never seemed like it belonged there. That small hesitation became a lifelong question: why isn’t there a better way to dispose of used cooking oil, especially in small amounts? What started as a personal concern eventually grew into a mission to create an easy, accessible, and sustainable solution — not just for commercial kitchens, but for households too.
2. How does your service actually work for restaurants or cafes? Is it easy to get started?
Absolutely — we’ve designed the service to be as simple and seamless as possible. Any business that uses oil, whether it’s sunflower, rapeseed, butter, or even avocado oil, can join. We’re flexible with oil types — even if they’re all mixed together, that’s no problem for us. Once on board, we assess your typical oil usage and provide a custom-sized collector to suit your needs. From there, it’s a straightforward process: pour the used oil into the container, and we’ll handle the rest. It’s designed to be zero-hassle, low-mess, and high-impact.
3. Why is it such a big deal where used cooking oil ends up?
Where used cooking oil goes matters more than people think. Pouring it down the drain can lead to serious blockages in sewers — causing floods, foul smells, and expensive repairs. If it ends up in landfills, it leaches into the environment, harming wildlife and contaminating our water and soil. But beyond the damage it can cause, there’s also what we’re losing: used oil is a valuable resource. It can be recycled into biodiesel and other useful products — so when we throw it away, we’re missing a huge opportunity for circular sustainability.
4. Have you worked with any local businesses we might know? What’s their experience been like? Would it be easy for them to employ your solutions?
We’ve had a lot of interest from local businesses, especially small independent cafés and takeaways, and we’re in ongoing conversations with many of them. The challenge has mainly been logistical — we’re still building out our collection network, so we haven’t been able to take on everyone just yet. That said, the system is designed to be easy to adopt. Once we expand into their area, all it takes is a quick onboarding and they’re ready to go. The feedback we’ve had so far has been very encouraging — there’s clearly a demand for a more sustainable and inclusive solution.
5. What’s on the horizon for your team – any big plans or goals coming up?
Our biggest goal is to make used cooking oil collection as normal and routine as recycling household plastics or food waste. We believe it should be part of everyone’s weekly waste routine — and with our unique system, it can be. Unlike traditional waste companies that only collect when you have 50+ litres of oil, we allow people to contribute just a few drops at a time. That makes it accessible to everyone — households, cafés, even schools. Over the coming months, we’re scaling our infrastructure to support more areas, and we’re in discussions with local councils and community groups to make our service widely available across the Crane Valley and beyond.
