Deep-frying your holiday turkey? Roasting your veggies in salary grease for extra season? While cooking oil and grease can add a savory sense of taste to whatever meal, they can also brand a real mess in your kitchen. Make sure you know what to do with it after cooking, because incorrectly disposing of cooking oil and grease tin can take expensive consequences, like an emergency holiday phone call to a plumber.

Go on reading to learn how to properly dispose of grease and oil afterward cooking (and what not to do).

How to Dispose of Bacon Grease and Oil the Right Way

The all-time way to become rid of cooking oil and grease is simple – throw it in the trash. Follow these steps to learn the safest fashion to dispose of these hot liquids:

  • Permit the oil or grease cool and solidify.
  • Once cooled, scrape the grease into a container that tin exist thrown abroad.
  • When the container is full, place it in a plastic bag to prevent leakage and then throw information technology in the garbage.

Once you've gotten rid of most of the grease, use a paper towel to wipe downwards all pots, pans and dishes that came into contact with the oil before rinsing them in the sink. Even small amounts of leftover grease are dangerous to your plumbing because it will build upward over time.

How to Dispose of Oil Infographic

"Keep in mind that grease in drains, combined with food scraps from large repast preparation, is what makes our phones ring off the hook the day after Thanksgiving. That'due south why information technology's our busiest day of the year."

Paul Abrams | Roto-Rooter Services Co.

Cooking Oil in Deep Fryer

What to Practice With Oil After Cooking

Not ready to throw abroad the oil merely however? Fats can be reused or recycled to give them 2d life.

Reuse Your Cooking Oil at Abode

Equally long as it has been cooked correctly and not heated past its fume point, you can take steps to reuse your oil and fats. To reuse cooking oil:

  • Strain the semi-warm oil using a cheesecloth, paper towels or coffee filters to remove any food particles.
  • Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator, freezer or other cool dark identify.
  • Test the cooking oil before using past smelling it to make sure it'south not rancid.

Y'all can reuse oil for deep frying, pan frying, sautéing and baking. Later on a few uses or when the oil goes bad, exist sure to dispose of cooking oil in the trash tin, as instructed above.

Recycle Your Cooking Oil at a Local Collection Site

Some municipalities collect used kitchen grease and oil for recycling. Employ this recycling locator to find a facility near you. Past using this option for cooking oil disposal, you will go on your grease out of the landfill and turn it into a form of alternative energy, similar biodiesel.

To recycle your oil:

  • Strain the oil to remove nutrient particles.
  • Shop in a sealable container.
  • Deliver it to your local collection site.

When yous're recycling through a collection facility, yous tin can ordinarily mix unlike kinds of oils and fats together in one container unless your collection site tells y'all differently. The drove container does not need to be refrigerated, so this is an easy style to get rid of cooking oil and grease.

Grease and Oil Build-Up Reducing the Diameter of Pipe

Source: Roto-Rooter

How Non to Dispose of Cooking Oil and Grease

The trash tin is the best fashion to dispose of cooking oil, but people ofttimes try to get rid of grease and cooking oil in other ways that are non advisable. Follow these of import rules when disposing of grease:

1. Don't Pour Oil Down the Drain

Pouring oil down the drain or toilet causes clogs in your dwelling house plumbing organization and contributes to larger clogs in the municipal lines that can ultimately lead to thousands of dollars' worth of damage.

Oil and grease may be liquid when hot, but will cool inside your pipes, congealing and gathering other oil particles. Equally the grease collection grows, information technology will prevent water from flowing through and crusade it to support into your kitchen and bathroom.

"Never pour cooking oil or grease down a bleed. Hot cooking oil will solidify inside the drainpipe just like candle wax, which gradually decreases the diameter of the pipe with a greasy buildup until the pipage stops draining birthday."

Paul Abrams | Roto-Rooter Services Co.

What if Grease Goes Downwards the Drain?

Accidents do happen when information technology comes to cooking oil disposal, peculiarly when you have guests trying to help you lot tidy upwards after a holiday repast.

If grease or cooking oil does make its way into your sink, accept immediate activity with these tips from Roto-Rooter:

  • Pour baking soda and white vinegar down the drain to clear some of the grease abroad.
  • Try an enzyme-based bleed cleaner, like Roto-Rooter's Pipe Shield, which helps neutralize grease in both metallic and PVC pipes.

If your sink is yet dull, utilise a plunger to further dislodge the grease clog. Non having any luck with these fixes? Unfortunately, yous will demand to call a plumber.

2. Don't Pour Used Cooking Oil Exterior

Tossing your used cooking oil outside is not a proper manner to dispose of grease. If you pour oil on the ground, information technology volition eventually brand its fashion into the sewer system and cause clogs at that place.

Additionally, fauna or vegetable-based oils and greases can crusade bug for wildlife when left exterior, co-ordinate to the EPA.

3. Don't Dispose of Cooking Oil in Your Compost Pile

While pocket-sized amounts of vegetable-based oils in your compost may be fine, a large amount will cause airflow and moisture issues, ruining your fertilizer.

Animal fats should exist kept out of your compost pile because they will odour, attract vermin and cause other problems that could make your compost unhealthy. No matter what type of oil or grease you're using, practise not dispose of it in your compost pile.

Minimizing Effects on Your Household While Maximizing Gustatory modality

Whether yous're cooking a big holiday meal or frying up breakfast, be smart with excess grease by disposing of it properly in your trash can or recycling it for future utilise. Unless you desire to invite your local plumber over for dessert, always avoid pouring oil downward the drain.

For more holiday tips, check out these posts:

  • How to Get Organized Earlier the Holidays
  • Holiday Recycling Tips
  • How to Dispose of a Christmas Tree