New Year’s Greetings from all of us at Cloudburst Recycling.

We want to introduce you to Northwest Biofuel! Cloudburst Recycling’s oil and grease recycling services will be combined with Northwest Biofuel’s January 2021.

Your service will not change in any way. We will keep your Grease traps clean, in full compliance with all regulations, your waste oils recycled, and your sewer lines flowing. We will continue to recover 100% of what we collect into cleaner burning biodiesel, electric production, and agricultural uses.

You do not need to do anything. Your service will continue without interruption.

For the past three years, we at Cloudburst Recycling have been working with Northwest Biofuel and it’s owner Lowell Fleming. Cloudburst has provided offices, parking and some maintenance support for Lowell. We’ve received, processed, stored, and recycled the waste oils and greases collected by Lowell’s company together with our own. We have long considered the advantages of joining up to improve the efficiency and capability of both companies.

Now it is time to combine our two operations. Like the restaurants we serve, we have been hard hit by the pandemic. Of course, every restaurant we serve has suffered restrictions and reduced clientele, while fixed costs remain mostly unchanged at best. We’ve lost some of our restaurants to permanent closure, and many to temporary shut-downs. We’ve all had to be creative, resourceful, and struggle to hold on. Kudos to you who are finding a way. We face the same challenges you do. It’s a good time for Cloudburst and Northwest Biofuel to combine operations, and become stronger together.

All services to you will be exactly the same. Tim Ensey, Cloudburst’s manager for the past seven years, will manage daily operations. He is very familiar with the particulars of your service needs. Most of the Cloudburst staff will continue with the joint operation. You may see our same staff or maybe, due to route changes, some new faces providing your service. Our high standards of responsive customer service, our integrity, and affordability will continue unchanged.

Our combined services will operate under the banner of Northwest Biofuel. During the course of our discussions, Cloudburst founders, David and Michela McMahon, decided it is a good time to step aside, after 46 years of operation. We ran our first recycling and garbage route in early 1975, aiming to make recycling a viable part of Portland’s solid waste program. We’ve had wonderful support from our community, and it’s amazing to look back and see all we’ve accomplished together. Thank you.

We are so grateful for your loyalty, and we depend on it. We appreciate your collaboration in making our service to you the best it can be. We are optimistic, that our public health and our economy will begin to gradually revive over the coming year. Let’s support one another and make it through the challenges in the most graceful way we can.