How Do I Dispose of Used Cooking Oil?

Cooking oil is used more and more, especially around the holidays while deep frying that turkey for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. But what should you do with the leftover oil? There are a few schools of thought on this topic.

Recycle It - Some feel that you are easily able to recycle it if there is a facility within your community who specialize in this type of thing. Recycling used cooking oil, or motor oil for that matter, involves a process of straining out larger pieces of food and depositing it into a unit specifically labeled for oil recycling. From there, it goes to another facility where it is refined into biodiesel fuel.

Reuse It - Cooking oil can generally be used more than once. The rule of thumb is to use it at the most for 8 hours worth of cooking and to not let your cooking temperature exceed 375 degrees or the oil will break down and turn rancid very quickly.

Place It In Your Regular Trash - If you have a decently small amount of used cooking oil and first put it into a container with a lid, you are able to throw it right into your regular trash.

No matter which of these options you choose, NEVER pour oil or grease down the drain.
Fats, oils and grease (FOG) are a leading cause of sewer backups into homes connected to the sanitary sewer system. Even small amounts of fats, oils or greases, over time, can clog pipes, resulting in sewer or septic back-ups. The average cost of repair resulting from a back-up is roughly $3,000.

For more information on recyclable materials visit www.wasteawaygroup.com.

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