Aneesh M G, a native of Ambalavayal in Wayanad now has no doubts about the newly acquired, customised stove that consumes leftover oil. The waste oil can be sourced from anywhere, from diesel engines to frying cauldrons in hotels, wayside eateries or homes. He now uses it regularly to heat water and even cook food at home. There is no odour or smoke. "It is as good as any other stove, or maybe even better," an excited Aneesh says, "All we need is some leftover oil."

The engineering behind it may sound crude, but Aziz, who developed the stove in his workshop, has started getting orders almost regularly now. In fact, he had developed the stove a year ago. "It all began when a man, not an acquaintance, casually remarked if we could develop a stove which can make use of the oil that is left out after cooking, especially frying,"Aziz recalls, "We also discussed the mechanism and the precautionary measures."

Aziz started making a stove along those lines and dumped it, halfway through. Months later, he resumed work on it when his friend Aneesh conveyed to him a similar requirement. With the stove now working fine at his home Aneesh is a happy lot.

"The unavailability of firewood, the difficulty in collecting timber from the forest and the rising costs of cooking gas cylinders were reasons behind the thought," says Aneesh. "The stove is now a blessing. The cost of fuel now is almost nil since we can get waste oil from various sources like wayside eateries, hotels, homes and workshops," he adds.

Aziz says the mechanism of the stove is simple. "The main parts of the stove are a burner, a fan, a container to keep the oil and a pipe. We need a fan since the leftover oil has low inflammability. As of now I have made four such stoves on demand. The stove gives enough heat to cater to the basic cooking needs. We can use leftover cooking oil, diesel engine oil or even a mix of them. However, waste oil sourced from petrol engines is risky, since it's highly inflammable," Aziz says.

"This may look raw or funny before a sophisticated, modern and noise-free stoves. But it can be a poor man's handy appliance to save money," Aziz says about the sustainable cooking stove that recycles used oil.