How to recycle used cooking oil or properly dispose of oil
Whether you’re panfrying the morning bacon or deep frying the holiday bird, you always have leftover fat, oil or grease. Louisville MSD and Metro Public Works advise to not pour the slippery mess into a sink, toilet or storm drain where it can lead to plumbing or sewer problems and foul local waterways.
Louisville MSD and Metro Public Works—the agencies responsible for handling the city’s liquid and solid waste—have joined to promote a cooking oil recycling program along with an environmentally safe way to dispose of fats leftover in routine panfrying.
If you fry it up in a fryer: Louisville’s full-service recycling centers accept household cooking oil leftover from deep frying. It’s free and easy for residents of Louisville and Jefferson County. Residents should first let the oil cool, strain out food particles, and pour the oil into a container that has a lid. Then take it to the nearest full-service recycling center and hand it to a staff member. The city has partnered with the private firm Oil Tech to collect the oil. The company recycles the used cooking oil for use in biodiesel fuel.
If you fry it up in a pan: Fat and grease leftover from routine pan-frying can be disposed of with other residential garbage if appropriately handled. Just pour the grease into a container that has a lid, let it cool, and place it in the trash. That helps keep your pipes and our sewers clog free, and helps keep our local waterways safe and clean. Using your sink’s garbage disposal or a grease-cutting detergent does not keep the gunk out of the plumbing and sewer system. Both merely break the solid material into smaller pieces that still flow down the drain and then build up inside of pipes. That eventually leads to troublesome backups and costly repairs.
To find a full-service recycling center near you, go to www.Louisvilleky.gov/recycling.
For more information about disposing of fats, oil, and grease go to www.LouisvilleMSD.org/athome.
For b-roll go to https://www.webcargo.net/l/1pAz4kqLkC
