What's the correct way for disposing of used cooking oil?

Question

discard it into the drain would cause the fishes to die. but discard it into the rubbish bin is also not a good option because cooking oil is a liquid. Anyone knows how?

Answer 1

a few points here...

we are talking about cooking oil and not motor oil (most of it is non toxic and is made from vegetables or other non- petroliums)! a few ounces of cooking oil is not going to kill the fish! if it were motor oil, that would be a whole different story.

second, anything you pour down the drain usually goes to water treatment plants before it gets delivered to our lakes, rivers and streams. they filter out the toxins before it gets to the fish!

third, if your drain goes to septic system and not through the town/city sewer system, NO FISH in the septic tank (they could not survive), so no problem there!

Forth, vegetable oil usually does not harden unless there are fats mixed in when it is hot, so it wont stick to your pipes! wait until the oil cools after you cook with it, and before you dump it, skim off the fat that will harden and rise to the top. the fat usually turns white or a light cream color. dump the fat into the garbage, and then poor the oil down the drain.

the other option is to drink it! i've done this, and depending on what you cook in the oil, it can be pretty tasty!

Answer 2

your local council should have a place you can take the used oil. you should NOT just chuck it in the bin. If it's a minimal amount (like less than 4 tablespoons), you're ok to wash it down the drain, but if you have over that, you need to dispose of it safely. Look on your councils website, and that should help.

Answer 3

Who told you it causes the fishes to die. Cooking oil is just fat, it is biodegradeable. It is not toxic. When you pour it down the drain, it probably goes to a waste water treatment plant where the "bugs" will eat it and convert it into bio-sludge. If you want to throw it in the rubbish, just put it in a jar or a can with a lid.

Once again, it is not the same as petroleum, it is a fat, there are plenty of organisms that will eat it so it is biodegradeable.

Answer 4

I pour mine in a glass jar and put it under the sink until it is full then just throw it away

i have found that when i throw grease like from bacon down the drain it can clog it up and not drain so well so i started doing this and it works wonderful

when i have used allot of oil like to fry fish or donuts i some times let it cool and use a funnel to put it back into the plastic jug it came in

Answer 5

That depends on what you want out of it.

If you want to dispose it bear in mind that all cooking oils are biodegradable and can be buried in the lawn. If your going to bury it, make a small hole in the ground about the size of a can of evaporated milk (condensed if you like, tee-hee) and about a meter away from any plants (they might develop high cholesterol).

If you don't have a lawn you may try collecting it in old coffee cans or something bigger. After you've collected enough, try getting in touch with a recycler or someone who buys this stuff. That way you get back some of the dollars you spent.

Answer 6

Weird...... the question was how to help Yvonne at the top.

It's flippin cooking oil. You put in a jar and toss it out. You put it down the sink but it may clog you drain if you don't run water down it on a regular basis. The fish? I am all into environmental stuff. Even if you put it down the drain there is no impact on fish (fish is the plural of a fish, not fishes).

Answer 7

I dispose of it by saving large jars or large coffee cans with lids which I store under my sink for future oil disposal. If you pour it down your drain it will definitely clog. If I brown beef and there is a small amount of oil, I pad the bottom of the bowl with paper towels, pour the hamburger in the bowl and then dispose of the paper towels in an empty veggie can and toss in the garbage.

Answer 8

When you open a can of something (Let's say spaghettios) save that can and pour your oil in there, then you can throw it away because it will have solidified.
And by the way, you don't put oil down the drain because it will harden and block up your pipes.
Not because it will kill the fish.

Answer 9

well we have to dispose of it somehow. you certainly wouldn't want to store it at home. Here is what I do....I pour it over crumpled and I mean a whole large newspaper...so the paper absorbs it then I dispose of it in my trash... other than that I guess you could burn the paper in a barrel or something but then u have the ozone... I try not to use any oils if I can avoid it for health sake but sometimes it is unavoidable...I always strain my ground beef through a mesh metal strainer in my sink lined with newspaper....I have had good results and it does not go down drain....

Answer 10

Pouring it down the drain will eventually clog it up (regardless if your flusing it with hot water). After the oil cools,pour it into a can or plastic bottle,with lids on them. Put the containers into separate garbage bags,and dispose of them in the outside trash.

Answer 11

Most cooking oils are water soluble and thus pose no real threat to the ecosystem. If there was someone locally who could take it and use it for bio-diesel fuel that would be the best option. However most likely there is not. And they would want more than a cup or two. Or a liter or two depending where you live.
I would suggest to put it into a tin can, like you get canned vegetables in and then freeze it. This solidifies the oil, and dispose into the garbage on trash pick up day. Like I stated, it is water soluble and poses no threat.
If you compost food waste it can be added to the compost pile too.