Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Things you should never do when disposing of cooking oil . It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil.
Cooking oil is typically a liquid at room temperature, although some oils that contain saturated fat, such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are solid.
There are a wide variety of cooking oils from plant sources such as olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil (rapeseed oil), corn oil, peanut oil and other vegetable oils, as well as animal-based oils like butter and lard.
Oil can be flavored with aromatic foodstuffs such as herbs, chillies or garlic. Cooking spray is an aerosol of cooking oil.
Things you should never do when disposing of cooking oil
- Never pour down the drain or in a toilet, as this can clog not only your pipes but can cause sewage backups.
- Never pour hot oil directly into a trash can.Not only is this a hazard, but can cause problems with garbage waste disposal trucks and solid waste areas.
- Never pour oil into compost waste, as oils contain fats which cannot break down with organic food matter.
- Don’t pour down the sink – even in small amounts
This might seem like an easy step, but it’s also quite dangerous. Even a little cooking oil can clog up the kitchen/sewage pipes. If that happens, you’ll have to hire a plumber for repairs, which can be quite expensive.If the sewage pipes get clogged up, that can actually affect neighborhood basements due to leaking sewage. - Don’t add to the septic system.
The reason is it can clog up pipes and even affect the drainage field and distribution lines. There’s even a chance it could pollute local waterways.
