Disposing of Oil...

[mugsy27]

what do you guys do with the big 5 gal. drums of peanut oil after your done with them?

Or even a smaller (say 1 gal) container of veg. oil??

I assume I cant just dump in down the sink..and I dont think the garbage man will take it...

 

[letscook]

I always pour into the container it came in an put in to the trash. Make sure the top can't come off and the big container i put into smaller containers and put in the trash. when I use lard or crisco i buy some bird seed and mix it in put a string through it and the birds love it. sorry I hit a wrong key before i finished the one above

 

[Andy M.]

It's not a good idea to pour large quantities of oil down the drain. It will accumulate inside the pipes and cause clogs.

I also put the oil in a container and put it out with the trash.

 

[pdswife]

... I don't deep fry anything so I've never had this problem... but since it's food... couldn't you just find a place outside to dump it?

 

[Andy M.]

... I don't deep fry anything so I've never had this problem... but since it's food... couldn't you just find a place outside to dump it?

Hmmm. I wonder how many critters you'd attract?

 

[pdswife]

for us attracting critters ( Lions and tigers and BEARS, oh my!!)
is a good thing.

But, in some areas that might be a big problem....

 

[Schadenfreude]

Usually I just pour drippings and oil into a large glass jar, and when full, I put it out next to my recycling bin and they pick it up.

 

[ronjohn55]

If you regularly have larger quantities of leftover oil, you could also look into bio-diesel. If it's only a bit here and there, then it probably wouldn't be worth it.

John

 

[Constance]

We save the container the oil came in for disposal.
We save bacon grease to use in cooking. I'll try the thing with the birdseed. We feed the birds all winter, and have all kinds of wonderful little visitors.

I have to be careful about putting food out though. I used to put all sorts of crumbs, grease and such out on the deck for the critters. HB kept telling me that if I kept it up, we'd have rats.
Then one winter morning, he called me to come look...On the deck just outside the patio door, sat a fat little brown wood rat, munching away on some old dried beans I'd tossed out.
He scurried away under the deck when I knocked on the glass, and HB immediately put a cake of D-Con under there for him. Of course, we wouldn't have to worry in the summer time...the rat snakes love it under my deck.

 

[Robo410]

large quantities of oil should be recycled not dumped. call a restaurant in your area and see what they do.

 

[kleenex]

If the oil is used and you know of a bunch of people that use that kind of stuff as gasoline, give it to them.

 

[TomW]

I routinely pour non-hydrogenated oil down the drain with nary a second thought. Non-hydrogenated oil is basically anything that is liquid at room temperature. I have never had a problem although I do rinse with plenty of cold water.

Don't do this with Crisco, sausage or bacon grease. Don't know why anyone would want to dispose of bacon grease though...

Tom

 

[Michael in FtW]

I'm with Robo - if your community doesn't have a recycling program to handle used oil ... call a restaurant near you and see if they will let you bring your used oil to them for disposal (some place that does a lot of frying) - they generally get paid for the used oil so they shouldn't charge you. Another place to drop off your oil is a place that does auto oil changes, something like a "Jiffy Lube" - just ask them.

Now, I'm not suggesting this - but I have heard of some people without any other "environmentally friendly" options leaving their oil at the back door of restaurants near the used oil container.

 

[Aurora]

I own a restaurant and we have a dedicated cooking oil recycling container which sits out back next to the dumpster. Weekly a fellow comes by and picks up the use oil and removes it at no charge since he recycles it.

Call a local restaurant, preferably one that has one or more fryers, and ask if they would mind recycling the oil for you. I am sure that you will find an environmentally conscious owner or manager who will be happy to help.

Alternatively, call your local household waste disposal company (city, county, parish, etc.) and ask what their recycling policy is for disposal of used cooking oils. Your best bet may be to put it into a sealed container and put it in your trash or put it in your recycling bin.

The use of vegetable oils as so called bio-diesel fuel is the logical best use for these used oils. In most cases they can just filter out any particulate matter and mix it with regular diesel fuel. I understand that the original fuel for which Mr. Diesel developed his diesel engine was vegetable oil. Engines run on vegetable oil have exhaust that smells like french fries.

Here is an interesting site about Biodiesel and using vegetable oil as fuel:

http://www.dancingrabbit.org/biodiesel/

With regular diesel fuel costs at an all time high, we shouldn't waste the alternatives.

 

[MrEd]

To the above poster.. most restaurants have to pay to have their grease removed these days. In the old days, many companies bought old grease and resold it.