Disposing of cooking fat or oil

[Dave2002]

What is the best and/or most environmentally friendly way of disposing of used cooking fat or oil?

Oil - pour it down the sink. SOEP method - someone else's problem - but may lead to blockages and other problems further down.
- bury it, or put it into a compost heap? Might work - if in small quantities. Otherwise might lead to some unpleasant health problems.
- pour it into a stream or river! Definitely not a good idea!

Fat, liquid or not too solid - Pour boiling water on it and flush it down the sink - again SOEP method, as above.
- Pour boiling or hot water on it, and emulsify it with liquid detergent, then flush down the sink. Might be better than the method above.
- Pour it down an outside drain - SOEP method. Might avoid internal blockages.
- Heat and emulsify it and pour it down an outside drain.
- again bury it in the garden or put in a compost heap? Small quantities - might work, but might attract rats.

Fat solid - perhaps too hard to try heat and emulsifying agents.
- small amounts - bury in garden, but might attract rats.
- wrap in paper (not plastic) and put in rubbish bin. This is SOEP - it will eventually go to Council waste dumps -
and who knows what will happen to it then?

Methods which involve disposal down sinks may enourage fat burgers in the sewers.

Does anyone really have good ideas what to do? SOEP methods are easy, but often lazy and not really good.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I'm nor sure what I would do. Maybe fats that solidify put out for the birds (Coconut shells etc??) . Oils - maybe ask the "local" (inverted commas in your case) chippy or fast food shop if they would take an accumulated litre or 5 of cooking oil to put with their own recycled oil they have collected (I assume they do). Your local authority must have a strategy to limit landfill and an enquiry service of how materials can be recycled?

Here in the soft South, our recycling centre (tip to you and me) takes engine oils, and separately cooking oils. in fact it takes so many sort-outs of waste to be disposed of that I trudge around the site putting our sorted waste into the various categories and then have to get past the stringent controls of what they allow into the undeniable "rubbish".

[Dave2002]

Here in the soft South, our recycling centre (tip to you and me) takes engine oils, and separately cooking oils. in fact it takes so many sort-outs of waste to be disposed of that I trudge around the site putting or sorted waste into the various categories and then have to get past the stringent controls of what they allow into the undeniable "rubbish".

I used to live in the soft South. From what I have gleaned, many people who were zealots re recyclng etc. gave up after a few years, and just put everything in the bin, or down the sink, if it'll go.

[mikealdren]

We have weekly recycling food waste collections so all hard fats go into that as do small amounts of oil. larger amounts of oil are more difficult, we usually collect them in an old jar and put into general waste; perhaps we should put them into the engine oil recycling at that local tip.

[LHC]

We have weekly recycling food waste collections so all hard fats go into that as do small amounts of oil. larger amounts of oil are more difficult, we usually collect them in an old jar and put into general waste; perhaps we should put them into the engine oil recycling at that local tip.

Our local council doesn’t collect food waste, so I use a fat trapper like this:



Excess fat is poured into the cardboard tray, which soaks it up. When full it gets put into the normal household waste for eventual disposal. It may not be the most eco-friendly solution, but it does at least reduce the amount of fat entering the sewage system to create fatbergs.

[Dave2002]

Our local council doesn’t collect food waste, so I use a fat trapper like this:

Interesting - I didn't know of such things. The cardboard looks a bit like an egg box - could unused egg boxes be used instead - perhaps in some suitable container, then, as you say, disposed of in the general waste?

[oddoneout]

I don't use oil in ways that result in material to dispose of but the consensus of my local waste disposal and water company sites seems to be cooking oil goes into a sealed container(such as plastic bottle or glass jar) and into the general waste, solid fats wrap in paper towel or newspaper and again into general waste. We don't have waste food collection here but those local authorities that do will presumably accept solid fat in such collections, but I don't know about liquid fat?
Waste fat in the compost comes under the 'not a good idea, attracts vermin' heading and I gather that oil isn't a good idea as it can clag up the workings of the heap leading to the risk of a smelly mess, although I would imagine that would depend on quantity and at what intervals? Don't think I would want to risk it though.
The small amounts of unwanted fat I sometimes have I pour onto a papertowel or piece of newspapaer in a suitable heatproof container and then when it's cooled and set remove and wrap and chuck in the bin.

[french frank]

I never have huge amounts of surplus oil or fat as I don't do deep fat/oil frying. So most of it get poured on to to my plate with the food and is consumed by me. Otherwise, a small amount of surplus is poured on to kitchen paper and ends up in the pedal bin for non-recyclable stuff. Or into the food bin.

Excess fat is poured into the cardboard tray, which soaks it up. When full it gets put into the normal household waste for eventual disposal. It may not be the most eco-friendly solution, but it does at least reduce the amount of fat entering the sewage system to create fatbergs.

[LHC]

Interesting - I didn't know of such things. The cardboard looks a bit like an egg box - could unused egg boxes be used instead - perhaps in some suitable container, then, as you say, disposed of in the general waste?

Possibly. The cardboard tray is thicker than that used for egg boxes, and so can absorb quite a bit of fat before it needs to be changed, but in principle, I imagine an egg box would also work.

[gradus]

For small amounts I either pour waste oil on to the garden soil or soak it into a kitchen towel for composting. Neither method has ever caused problems although animals/birds will be drawn to animal fat left on the surface so just turn over the soil. If disposing of say a quantity of oil from a deep fat fryer I'd decant it into a container and take it to the Council waste disposal site.

[vinteuil]

.

... if you have so much cooking fat to dispose of that it is a problem for you, I wd suggest a greater problem to be looked at is your diet

.

[Serial_Apologist]

I never have huge amounts of surplus oil or fat as I don't do deep fat/oil frying.

Nor me neither - when it comes to frying I just use olive oil for sautéing purposes, and then wash out the pan with extra washing liquid. But this thread does raise a more pressing problem with regards to recycling other items, such as the numerous tins of paint bequeathed me by the previous owner of my flat. Have we had a discussion topic on difficult to dispose ofs here?

[Pulcinella]

Nor me neither - when it comes to frying I just use olive oil for sautéing purposes, and then wash out the pan with extra washing liquid. But this thread does raise a more pressing problem with regards to recycling other items, such as the numerous tins of paint bequeathed me by the previous owner of my flat. Have we had a discussion topic on difficult to dispose ofs here?

Half-used cans of paint were a real problem for us when we last moved house.
We had to buy some (fairly expensive) solidifying agent to add to the paint before the local dump would consider taking the cans for disposal.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dulux-Solidifier-Professional-Universal-Activator/dp/B01G7GZ8B6/ref=pd_sbs_1?pd_rd_w=FvXaq&pf_rd_p=2cc879b3-0437-401a-870d-ced07a584039&pf_rd_r=M2TR108K8WGHAN2QPDYM&pd_rd_r=a31b6bb2-d755-4a7c-9a07-6e6e34c87287&pd_rd_wg=dR1Jj&pd_rd_i=B01G7GZ8B6&psc=1

[Cockney Sparrow]

If the paint is useable/strainable you could ask your local Am Dram theatre (group) to take it. The grey colour which inevitably results from mixing can be used as a first coat over the previous scenery. (I think I am right in this, its been a while since I was in our local group's workshop).

If there is no way to re-use, the advice at our local tip is to dry out cans of paint (lid off, in the shed, over the summer) and they will accept the can. Its made me more cautious about the quantities of paint we buy - paint other than white particularly.

[cat]

I put out oil and fat in the wheelie bins here. Either directly in the green compostables bin, or in a suitable container in the black general waste bin. Never down the sink!