(For more on that, reach out to the Green Restaurant Association.). Have you heard? It is easy to clean your pans in the kitchen sink and pour the oil down the drain, however oils can build up in pipes and eventually clog your sewage system. Puncture the dome of the old oil filter and drain the excess oil from it into your oil pan. Like we saw above, you often end up with leftover cooking oil after deep frying or browning beef. To reduce the risk of accidentally burning yourself, let the cooking oil cool completely before you dispose of it. If you're not into enjoying the glory of grease, maybe your pets are? To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Good oil has a light, clean smell while a bitter or metallic aroma—or something reminiscent of crayons!—means it’s past its prime. Use it for conditioning and polishing furniture. Collect the used oil for recycling. By learning how to dispose of cooking fats—from vegetable oil to animal grease—properly. How to dispose of cooking oil. This handy cook’s helper, generally made of metal or stoneware, comes with disposable foil liners. "But it has to be done right, so do your homework." Reusing it is always an option, but if it is spoilt, there are easy ways of getting rid of it. Copyright © 2021 Acton Media Inc. All rights reserved. Hopefully, you’ve stopped short of dumping it down the sink! An open letter to bacon grease: you don't have to go down the drain, but you can't stay here. © 2021 Condé Nast. It's important residents use the correct disposal method for their fats, oil … Puncture the dome of the old oil filter and drain the excess oil from it into your oil pan. This guide explains how to tell if yours needs to be disposed of and gives you the best options for how to dispose of cooking oil in a safe, responsible manner. What would be the consequences if I did? For the most part, home cooks don't have those options. If you want to dispose of spent cooking grease, the best way to do it is to pour the fat into a sealable container that you're fine with throwing away. In fact, sunflower oil is probably the best oil you can use in your garden since sunflowers are a soil cleansing plant. Butcher blocks and cutting boards benefit from it also. How to Dispose of Cooking Oil and Fat. Use a clean plastic container with a sturdy lid or screw-on top. Bacon grease or schmaltz (aka chicken grease) are well known cooking agents. Frying foods may not be the healthiest of cooking options, but it's absolutely delicious!One of the pesky problems that come from cooking with oil, especially when deep-frying, is figuring out how to safely dispose of the oil.There are a couple of options for safely disposing of cooking oil, which means that you can choose which one works best for you. Use rancid olive oil to soften and preserve leather (shoes, purses, furniture, etc.). While it can be used for the same product two or three times, it's best to make sure the oil is safe to cook with. Pouring cooking oil down the drain may seem harmless, but the oil often sticks to the insides of pipes. That not only helps reduce the need for fossil fuel production, it’s the greenest thing to do. Getting rid of old cooking oil is as easy as taking out the trash -- or the recycling. It’s an organic matter that can be composted to enrich the soil. of the oil into the stockpot, I took a whiff - yup, it's definitely turned. of Murphy's oil soap or baby shampoo and add 1 c. warm water. Pour the oil into the container, screw the cap on tight, and toss it in the trash. Doing so can cause clogs in home drain lines and contribute to larger clogs in municipal lines, which is why most communities have regulations against it. If none of the above are options for you, there is one last cooking oil–disposal resort: keep a closed vessel in arm's reach of your stove. According to Beth Porter, climate and recycling director for Green America, "Some municipal programs may offer curbside pick up for oil with detailed instructions, but most areas do not and ask that residents drop off collected used oil at specific locations." It isn't the greatest option for an environmentally conscious cook, but it's the best one we have right now. Whenever there's an excess of spent grease or oil in your kitchen, let it cool slightly, then pour it into your chosen vessel. Pour the oil into the container, screw the cap on tight, and toss it in the trash. Whether you’re pan frying fish in vegetable oil or faced with a skillet full of liquid fat from your breakfast bacon, you’re probably going to have to figure out how to dispose of the used oil. Continue to add used oil until it reaches the fill line, and then fold the top of the foil liner, remove it from the canister, and put the foil bag in your trash receptacle. Hot oil can cause serious burns, so take your time and make sure you always follow safety precautions when … I typically hold on to the plastic bottles in which many cooking oils are packaged, specifically for this purpose. Olive, canola, and sunflower oils are especially good for this. Follow Not only are fat, oil, and grease messy to clean, but they're also hard to dispose of. If you do this, it will eventually end up in the sewer system and cause clogs there. Carefully pour the used cooking oil into the container and screw the lid on as tightly as possible. By learning how to dispose of cooking fats—from vegetable oil to animal grease—properly. Epicurious may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Step 2: Remove oil and grease from pots and pans: Small amounts of oil and grease can be wiped up by paper towels or newspaper and placed in the compost. but I still don't use it fast enough before it goes bad. Avoid using glass, Balkan warns, since glass has a tendency to shatter and "enhances the risk of injury to sanitation workers." Do you tend to cook greasy, oily foods? The Best Way To Dispose Of Used Cooking Oil. Don’t get rid of grease using any of these methods: Source: Roto-Rooter. Just enter your zip code to find out if there’s a cooking oil recycling collection center near you. What Not to Do With Cooking Fat, Oil, and Grease. 2) You should pour the oil into a sealable container. wikihow.comImage: wikihow.comPut the sealed container with the cooking oil in it into your food waste bin. Businesses are legally required to dispose of used cooking oil appropriately, and can face significant fines for not complying with disposal regulations. Expert advice from Bob Vila, the most trusted name in home improvement, home remodeling, home repair, and DIY. Depending on how much hot oil you have, you may need to wait a few hours for it to cool. Double check the rules at your nearest centre, but many now take cooking oil waste free of charge. Of course, that's only if you're home-composting. I rarely use canola oil for cooking, but was going to brown some beef short ribs in a large stockpot before putting them into the crockpot this morning. The process involves cooling the oil so it becomes a solid (or freezing it), transferring it to another container if necessary, composting it, or dropping it off at a restaurant or recycling center. As the goo solidifies over time, it can cause serious blockages. Just pour or scrape used oil into the foil-lined canister and replace the lid. Whether it is frying bacon, browning ground beef or deep-frying turkeys, we end up with a lot of oil at the end of the day. Cooking oil collection services, such as Olleco, help businesses to recycle their waste cooking oil to produce biofuels, which can be used to replace fossil fuels used for transport. Here are a few tips that will allow you to cook with oil and dispose of it, too. Most municipal compost collection facilities won't allow grease or oil with your weekly drop off, so check your local rules before your next weekend fry-up. Heated oil can be unpredictable when poured, so it is better to wait a while before attempting the disposal. There are a few different options when it comes to cooking oil disposal but which one you use will depend on the quantity of used oil you have to dispose of. Purchase a Grease Disposal System If you do a lot of frying, you may want to consider getting a grease disposal system kit that consists of a plastic receptacle with foil-lined bags that can hold up to 32 ounces of oil. If you use the oil for foods like vegetables or potatoes, the oil can be used again several times. Still not your dice? If it goes to a processor, the anaerobic digestion process will break down the oil and any other organic ingredients without oxygen into a gas that can be used as alternative energy. If your community has curbside collection for food scraps, small amounts of used cooking oil can be soaked up in used paper towels or newspaper and then added to your curbside organics bin. The correct way to dispose of cooking oil and grease depends on the amount you have. I buy the smallest possible bottle (1 pt., 8 oz.) The barrels are then collected by Eden Green Energy, a vegetable oil recycli Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. Step 1: Cool oil and grease. Save old oil in a used container until it is time to empty the litter box; dump the oil into the litter before tossing out. Most deep fryers are designed to retain their oil from use to use, and it’s a hassle to strain an entire tank. Use old oil in your garden. To dispose of olive oil you can recycle it, compost it, or throw it away. Save the oil for later. Oils can also kill weeds and are a chemical-free way of doing it too. Caused by solidified cooking oils that pick up debris and expand, becoming enormous obstructions in the sewer system, these early clogs may be museum-worthy, but they're also destructive (and dangerous to the workers who try to remove them). It clogs your pipes and our sewer system.. Pouring it out on the ground is also a no-no: The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that cooking oil, whether it’s vegetable-based (such as canola) or animal-based (such as lard), can “kill or injure wildlife” and cause a host of other environmental issues as well. 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