How To Get Rid Of Canola Oil

How To's & Quick Tips

How To: Dispose of Cooking Oil

After you stop frying and feasting, be sure to properly and safely dispose of the cooking oil. Whether you use lard, shortening, or liquid oil, nosotros've got the 411.

How to Dispose of Cooking Oil

Photo: istockphoto.com

Love cooking those French chips, donuts, and other delicious treats merely stumped by what to do with the oil when y'all're done? Hopefully, you've stopped short of dumping it downwards the sink! Doing and then tin can cause clogs in home drain lines and contribute to larger clogs in municipal lines, which is why most communities have regulations against information technology. Pouring it out on the basis is as well a no-no: The Ecology Protection Bureau has determined that cooking oil, whether it's vegetable-based (such every bit canola) or animal-based (such as lard), can "impale or injure wildlife" and cause a host of other environmental issues every bit well.

No need to fret about your frying medium, though—you're in the correct place! This guide explains how to tell if yours needs to be disposed of and gives y'all the best options for how to dispose of cooking oil in a safe, responsible manner.

How to Dispose of Cooking Oil

Pace ane: Determine if information technology's time to toss with the sniff test.

Used cooking oil needn't be discarded after one use. If you've been frying in a skillet and prefer not to waste the leftover oil, simply remove residual bits of food past straining it through a large coffee filter, and and so pouring it into a sealable container for storage on a cool, nighttime shelf. Most deep fryers are designed to retain their oil from use to use, and it'due south a hassle to strain an entire tank. So continue to use it as long as it passes the sniff examination beneath.

Eventually, all cooking oil volition become rancid. To determine if yours has gone bad, give it a sniff. Good oil has a light, clean smell while a bitter or metallic aroma—or something reminiscent of crayons!—means information technology's by its prime. If you lot're not sure, rub a scrap of oil between your forefinger and pollex: Fresh oil volition experience polish and light, but a sticky or tacky consistency indicates that it's time to toss.

How to Dispose of Cooking Oil

Photo: istockphoto.com

Pace two: Be prophylactic about disposal by waiting until cool and choosing the right container.

Cooking oil must absurd to room temperature before it can be safely handled. In an insulated deep fryer, oil tin can retain enough heat to crusade serious burns for up to an hour, or longer, after it's been turned off. Then be patient and let information technology absurd off completely first.

If dealing with shortening and lard, scoop its congealed form into an empty shortening tin or coffee tin and popular on the lid. As long as it's in a closed container, y'all can so put information technology in your trash receptacle and throw it abroad with your regular kitchen waste.

If you started with liquid cooking oil, however, such as peanut oil or safflower oil, don't wait it to thicken too much when it cools. You'll need a more secure container, such as an empty plastic milk jug or soda canteen with a tight screw-on lid. To go along from making a mess, employ a funnel when pouring oil through narrow-mouthed bottle openings.

If you regularly ready fried foods with small amounts of cooking oil that you don't intend to reuse, consider purchasing a grease keeper. This handy melt's helper, generally fabricated of metallic or stoneware, comes with disposable foil liners. Just pour or scrape used oil into the foil-lined canister and supplant the lid. Continue to add used oil until it reaches the fill line, and then fold the pinnacle of the foil liner, remove it from the canister, and put the foil bag in your trash receptacle.

STEP three: Decide on trash or recycling.

While you could, in theory, toss your filled (and sealed) container right into the trash tin to have out to the curb, that'south not the only ways for how to dispose of cooking oil. In fact, if you're eco-witting, you may exist able to dispose of old cooking oil at a recycling center that will then send it off to exist transformed into biodiesel fuel. That not merely helps reduce the need for fossil fuel product, it's the greenest thing to do. Earth911.com maintains an interactive search to make up one's mind which types of recyclable materials are being nerveless in your community. Merely enter your zip code to find out if there's a cooking oil recycling collection eye near you.