Early on a Monday morning at Lincoln Financial Field, the echoes of the previous night’s Eagles victory over the Los Angeles Rams have faded, but a different kind of team is just getting started. The seats are empty, sunlight peeks through the stands, and the stadium’s kitchens are abuzz with activity—not from chefs preparing game-day fare, but from technicians with Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions. Their mission? To collect and recycle the hundreds of pounds of used canola oil that made thousands of chicken tenders, crab fries, and other fried favorites possible for the roaring crowd.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, this routine is more than just a post-game cleanup—it’s a crucial part of a massive recycling operation. Filta’s Philadelphia-based crews, equipped with mobile vacuum units and specially designed filters, move from one concession stand to the next, draining and cleaning the 195 fryers spread across 42 stands in the stadium. The numbers are staggering: last year alone, Filta collected 150,000 pounds of used fryer oil from Lincoln Financial Field. And that’s just from this one venue.
It’s not just the Eagles’ home that benefits from Filta’s services. The company’s reach extends throughout Philadelphia, servicing the Xfinity Mobile Arena, Citizens Bank Park, the Philadelphia Zoo, Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania, Temple, St. Joseph’s, and even local hospitals. In total, Filta collected over 1.3 million pounds of used fryer oil in the Philadelphia region last year, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer and PhillyVoice.
Derek Riebel, owner of several Filta franchises in the Mid-Atlantic, takes particular pride in this work. “I get to serve my hometown team, and I feel good that I’m eating out of the fryers we took care of,” Riebel told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Having grown up in Delaware County, Riebel’s connection to the city and its sports teams runs deep. After launching his Filta franchise in Virginia, he jumped at the chance to return to Philadelphia in December 2023. “When this market became available, I did everything I could to move back up here since I’m originally from here. These are my hometown teams,” he told PhillyVoice.
The process itself is as much science as it is logistics. After each Eagles game, Filta’s technicians—sometimes a team of two, sometimes as many as six—work in assembly-line fashion. They vacuum out the crumb-filled oil (which, after a busy game day, looks and smells a bit like melted dark chocolate with a lingering aroma of fried chicken), wipe down grates and fryer interiors with degreaser, and refill the fryers with fresh oil. Each stand takes about 20 minutes, but those with up to 10 fryers can take much longer. During a typical Monday morning session, the team collects about 1,400 pounds of used oil. So far in 2025, nearly 60 tons have been recycled at the stadium alone.
Filta’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond simply hauling away waste. The company uses a device called the Filtafry—about the size of a shopping cart—which vacuums hot oil (kept at around 370 degrees Fahrenheit) from the fryers. The oil then passes through three filters, removing food debris and sanitizing it with pressure and heat. This process can extend the oil’s usable life, sometimes doubling it, and allows it to be reused before it’s finally deemed unfit for cooking. “A lot of times when it’s done, you can see through the oil, sometimes straight to the bottom of the fryer,” Riebel said. “It’ll change color entirely if you clean it up and make it look better.”
But not all oils are created equal—or equally recyclable. Lincoln Financial Field uses canola oil exclusively, while Xfinity Mobile Arena employs a blend of soy and canola, and Citizens Bank Park opts for soy. The only oil Filta won’t recycle is lard, which solidifies and becomes unmanageable, though that’s mostly a concern for donut shops, not stadiums.
Once the oil can no longer be filtered and reused, it’s transferred to Filta’s warehouse. There, it’s stored in tanks—up to 8,500 gallons at a time—until enough has accumulated (about 6,000 gallons) to be collected by Mahoney Environmental, the next link in the recycling chain. From there, the oil is shipped by train to a refinery in the Gulf of Mexico, where it is transformed into biodiesel and, increasingly, jet fuel.
“It’s good for the environment,” Riebel told PhillyVoice. “It also helps them buy less oil. ... It reduces their liability, it makes things safer, improves their food quality, and just removes a job that is really hard to get somebody in the kitchen to do.” The environmental benefits are clear: not only does the program reduce waste, but it also diverts used oil from landfills and helps power vehicles and even airplanes. Lincoln Financial Field’s green initiatives don’t stop at oil—so far in 2025, the stadium has composted nearly 125 tons of food and recycled 84 tons of cardboard, with trash being sorted on-site to keep recyclables out of landfills.
Filta’s efforts are substantial on a monthly basis, too. The company recycles between 12,000 and 18,000 gallons of oil every month across its Philadelphia operations. The sheer scale of the operation means that, after every major event—be it a football game, concert, or festival—the oil filtration team works overnight, often spending six to twelve hours turning over a stadium’s entire fryer system. By the time the next morning rolls around, the kitchens are spotless and ready for action again.
While the process is highly industrial, there’s a personal side to the story. Riebel’s journey from mortgage broker to environmental entrepreneur began when a friend needed a solution for his Duck Donuts shops. That initial spark led to a franchise in Virginia, and, eventually, to a leading role in Philadelphia’s sustainability movement. “It’s dump day,” Riebel quipped to The Philadelphia Inquirer as his team prepared to tackle the stadium’s fryers. “We’re going to dump every fryer in the stadium.”
As the Eagles continue their season and fans flock to Lincoln Financial Field for their share of crispy stadium snacks, few probably consider the journey their fried chicken tenders or crab fries will take after the final whistle. But thanks to Filta, that oil won’t just be discarded—it will be filtered, recycled, and transformed, perhaps even powering the very bus that brings fans back for the next game. With over 100 tons of cooking oil expected to be recycled at the stadium this year alone, the green push is more than a feel-good gesture; it’s a significant, ongoing contribution to Philadelphia’s environmental future.
It’s a reminder that even the greasiest stadium indulgence can have a second act—one that’s cleaner, greener, and, in its own way, just as satisfying as a game-day win.
