Nothing beats the delicious smell of spices toasting in hot oil. From restaurants to food vans, cooking oil is a staple ingredient for creating flavourful meals. Estimates suggest that small to medium-sized businesses can use 20 litres of oil per week.
But here’s the big question, how do businesses dispose of cooking oil once they’ve used it?
In 2018, a restaurant in Shrewsbury paid over £9,000 in fines and legal costs after being found guilty of repeatedly pouring used oil down the sinks, which blocked the sewers.
Thames Water estimates that 6.7 million drains in the UK get blocked every year. Fat, oil, and grease alone cause 75% of blockages.
However, if disposed of correctly, excess oil can play an important part in the circular economy, helping businesses reduce their carbon emissions and supporting the UK's focus on moving towards net zero. It’s time for all of us, from businesses to homes, to reconsider how we dispose of excess oil.
This article will explore how to dispose of cooking oil in a commercial setting and touch briefly on households, plus look at environmentally friendly ways to recycle used cooking oil.
The Problem with Waste Cooking Oil
The problem with waste cooking oil is how it’s disposed of. Choosing to pour old cooking oil down sinks or drains leads to serious problems in wastewater systems and the sewer network as it sets and hardens.
In 2018, the Museum of London displayed a slice of fatberg. Made of congealed fat, oil, and wet wipes, the piece was taken from a giant fatberg that weighed an incredible 130 tonnes and was found in the sewer under Whitechapel.
The simple act of disposing of cooking oil can also lead to significant environmental issues. When oil reaches rivers and waterways, it floats on top of those surfaces, blocking oxygen and sunlight from entering the water. In turn, this leads to the death of plants and fish, as they need oxygen and sunlight to live.
Five consequences of pouring waste cooking oil down a sink or drain:
- Foul-smelling commercial kitchen drains
- Hard-to-reach blockages in commercial kitchen drains
- Flooding within homes and communities
- Business closures
- Polluted rivers and waterways
A common misconception about cooking oil disposal
It’s a common misconception that pouring boiling water down the sink after disposing of cooking oil can avert any risk of building up a blockage. Unfortunately, this is not true. In the long run, this can lead to worse problems, as the build-up is pushed further down the pipes and left in a harder-to-reach section.
If you’ve accidentally thrown some oil down the drain, pouring some washing-up liquid or bicarbonate of soda down can help. But remember that even small amounts can create a blockage. So to avert floods, business closures, polluted waterways and foul-smelling drains, let’s explore how to dispose of cooking oil.
How to Dispose of Commercial Cooking Oil
The Food Standards Agency sets out clear rules around the storage and collection of waste cooking oil, in line with the Food Safety Act 1990. Yet, according to Water UK, only 12% of food service establishments use equipment to manage the treatment of oil and grease, and only around 0.15% comply with best practices.
If businesses are found to be pouring used cooking oil down drains or sewers, they could be prosecuted.
Let’s explore the commercial options available to dispose of oil correctly.
Install a Grease Trap
Grease traps work by collecting the used oil and storing it in a separate container before it gets into the sewage system.
From small-budget fat traps that can be fitted under sinks to automatic and manual grease traps that can be fitted in kitchens, above or below the ground, a wide variety of grease traps are available to suit every business.
Reuse Cooking Oil
It is possible to reuse leftover cooking oil if the leftover oil is not contaminated and is still in good condition. Use a sieve to strain the oil to remove any food waste and then store it in a clean, airtight container in a dark place.
If your used cooking oil starts to emit a bad smell or becomes dark in colour, it’s time to dispose of it properly.
Designated Storage Tank
Used cooking oil must be stored in a secure container. At Waste Mission, we can help you determine the best storage container for your business. From tanks to waste drums and barrels, we can assist you with simple options that ensure you are storing used oil in a legally required way.
Recycle Cooking Oil
At Waste Mission, we can arrange the collection of your used oil, ensuring you meet the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which requires industries to ensure "that all reasonable steps are taken to look after any waste you have and prevent its illegal disposal by others".
Your cooking oil can be recycled into biofuel, animal feed or cleaning materials. Used cooking oil recycling ensures that general waste streams are not contaminated and less is sent to landfills.
Renewable Energy Source
Instead of blocking sewers and drains, dispose of cooking oil using the steps above. This will help your business provide a renewable energy source for heating, power generation, and vehicle fuel.
Remember that fatberg discovered in Whitechapel? The majority of it was converted into biodiesel. That’s a great example of a circular economy where nothing is wasted.
How to Dispose of Cooking Oil at Home
Whether it’s the little bit of oil in the tuna can or the cooking oil used for deep frying breakfast, don’t be tempted to tip leftover oil down the sink. According to Water UK, “27% of UK adults dispose of their fats down the sink, 22% down the drain and 11% down the loo.”
Disposing regular small amounts of leftover oil into the drains and sewage systems costs the UK up to £200 million each year to remove sewer blockages, and more than 3,000 homes are flooded because of them.
Five Tips on Disposing of Cooking Oil at Home
- Reuse it
Before you dispose of leftover oils, see if you can reuse them. Remove any food scraps with a sieve, pour into a clean, sealed container, and leave in a dark place. As mentioned above, if the cooking oil you use emits bad smells or becomes dark in colour, it’s time to dispose of it properly.
- Use a paper towel
Paper towels are great for wiping up small amounts of cooled oil left on a pan after cooking. These can be thrown away in the general waste bin.
- Place in a sealed container
Waste cooking oil can be poured into a container with a lid and then left in the fridge to solidify. You can add to this until the container is full and then take it to a nearby recycling centre.
- Soak up with cat litter
Cooking oil can be combined with cat litter, sand or sawdust and disposed of in the general waste bin.
- Put in your food waste
If you have a food waste bin, very small amounts of oil can be placed in it as long as there are other items to soak it up so that it doesn’t leak out.
Used cooking oil can have a significant detrimental effect on the environment if it’s not disposed of correctly. On the plus side, it can be disposed of correctly through recycling and can be used to conserve raw materials and remove waste and pollution.
How is cooking oil recycled?
Recycled cooking oil can be converted from a harmful environmental issue into a sustainable alternative to mineral diesel.
Once collected, used cooking oil undergoes a series of long and complicated processes, including heating, cleaning, and filtering. The oil must also meet the specific requirements of the biofuel refineries before it can be converted into biodiesel.
What can recycled cooking oil be used for?
It’s actually incredible to see all the different ways cooking oil can be used once it’s been recycled into biofuel.
- Power vehicles
- Cleaning agent for oil spills
- Power machinery and charge electronics
- Replace fossil fuels as a form of energy
Summary
At Waste Mission we are committed to helping businesses across the UK embrace circular economy practises, ensuring that more and more processes encourage reuse, repair or recycling. We would love to talk to you about how your company can improve the disposal of cooking oil and ensure you meet your ESG targets.
We know how hard it is for companies to find reliable suppliers who can help them reduce waste and meet increasingly strict food waste standards. But at Waste Mission, this is what we do best. We educate, inspire, and facilitate waste reduction for businesses, collaborating with our customers and the supply chain to innovate and identify “waste” materials for conversion into valuable recyclable commodities.
To find out more, book a waste review today.
