11 Efficient Ways To Dispose Of Cooking Oil
NEWS
By ALYSA SALZBERG
Toss It In The Trash
Wait for your cooking oil to cool, pour it into a sealed, water-tight container that you were going to dispose of anyway, and throw it all into your trash can.
An old Tupperware container is ideal for the job, but you can also use a carefully knotted plastic bag or a Ziplock. Many use soda cans, but it poses the risk of the oil leaking.
Cook Another Meal
If not smoked the first time you heated it, oils like sunflower, canola, and safflower oil, in general, can be strained and reused for cooking another meal or two.
If you want to reuse your cooking oil, store it in a sealed container in the fridge. However, if it starts looking cloudy or emitting a rancid smell, toss it immediately.
Make Birdseed Balls
To attract birds to your yard and get rid of leftover cooking oil that’s bird-safe, like coconut or sunflower oil, mix the oil with seeds to make birdseed balls.
Once shaped, keep them in the freezer. When the weather starts turning cold, put the balls in a suspended feeder or tie strings around them and hang them from a tree.
Take It To A Restaurant
Restaurants store large amounts of used oil. Once enough oil is collected, most will call specialized waste removal companies to transport and recycle it.
Many restaurants help locals by disposing of used cooking oil on their behalf, but it’s always ideal to ask if an eatery accepts oil from individual people beforehand.
Condition Leather
Vegetable or coconut oil that’s free of odor and food bits can deftly moisturize and condition furniture, belts, boots, and bags made of vegetable-tanned leather.
Pour a small amount of oil on a cloth and rub it onto a clean leather surface using concentric motions. Using too much oil can cause the leather to become greasy and attract dirt.