So you made a juicy batch of homemade fried food and are now to the dreaded task of cleaning up. Wiping down grease splatters is one thing, but you might be dreading what to do with the used cooking oil. Sure, we can always keep it in a metal or glass jar to reuse it next time. But once the used cooking oil goes darker, we can’t keep on using it! How to safely dispose used cooking oil then?
Some country has garbage disposal, but that is the least effective way to dispose of cooking oil. Why? Oils and fats become solid and can cause a major damage and blockages to your pipes. It can also mess up with your plumbing system, attract pests and pollute the waterways!
Here are How to Safely Dispose of Used Cooking Oil:
After using oil, cool to room temperature and follow one of these three methods below suggested by Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen.
- Transfer cooking oil to a disposable container with lid. This can be a cooking oil bottle, plastic milk jug or carton. Seal the container and place in your household garbage.
- Live close to a restaurant? Try contacting them about adding your oil to their collection bin if you have a large amount to dispose.
- If you are using soy, corn, coconut, olive, or sunflower oil (which are 100% vegetable oil) you can add them to your compost pile in a small (emphasis on the small here, as too much oil on the compost could become a fire hazard) amounts as earthworms will eat cooking oil. Make sure you’re only doing this with vegetables oil. Animal fat is a big no no for your compost.
Image by Karolina / Kaboompics for rawpixel.com
Growing up, my mother taught me just transfer it into a plastic bag once it’s room temperature. Pretty much similar to the first point above. But that is not sustainable! When I was in Melbourne, a friend taught me to just pour it down the sink with running hot water. I did that for years, and Thank God I had no plumbing problem.
Here in Jakarta, we do not have hot water in the sink. Luckily, I live around street food market who actually asked me if I have leftover oil, so they could reuse it for their street foods. They told me they are using the old technic of triple filtration to make sure they can reuse the oil. They will only throw it away until the oil become dark brown and thick.
I am not sure how they would safely dispose of used cooking oil after that. Hopefully it wont damage our already damaged river!
Aside from this topic of How to Safely Dispose of Used Cooking Oil, click here for delicious deep fried food!
