Why You Should Never Pour Used Cooking Oil Down the Drain

Cleaning up the kitchen after making a meal is nobody’s idea of a good time. It can be tempting to dump any leftover cooking oil down the kitchen sink to get cleanup finished as fast as possible—but think twice before you pour anything down your drain.

This post from your used oil pickup experts will cover all the dangers of pouring cooking oil down the drain.

Most oils don’t stay liquid

The main reason to avoid dumping your cooking oil is that the oil might solidify as it cools down. Butter, coconut oil and bacon fat are a few of the oils that harden once they cool down. If that oil congeals in your kitchen sink, you could be staring at a clog that may need a plumber to fix.

Perma liquid oils can still be harmful

Olive oil and canola oil don’t solidify at room temperature, which is good, but your experts in used oil collection and recycling in New Orleans still want you to avoid dumping them. These oils will coat the insides of your pipes, which can lead to clogs in the near future.

Chasing oil with hot water doesn’t help

You might think that pouring oil down the drain is fine as long as you chase it with hot water and dish soap. After all, the hot water will keep the oil liquified until it makes it through your plumbing system, right? But that’s not the case.

No water is hot enough and no soap is strong enough to prevent oil from eventually causing a clog.

Oils cause problems in sewer systems

Assuming your oil makes it through your plumbing system, it can still be a hazard for the city. All of that old cooking oil binds together with other substances in the sewer system, eventually sticking to sewer walls and creating a massive wad of grease called a fatberg.

Save city workers from cleaning up those fatbergs, and dispose of your cooking oil properly.

What should you do with your used cooking oil?

Dumping your oil down the drain is the worst thing you can do. Although letting it solidify and throwing it in the trash is a better option, it’s not much superior to dumping it. Instead, here’s what we recommend doing:

• Reuse it yourself: If you’re a home cook who’s fond of frying things up, you should consider storing your used oil in a glass jar and using it in the future. Used oil is just as good as new oil, and using old oil saves you a trip to the grocery store.
• Hire a collection company: The easiest option is hiring a company for used oil pickup. All you need to do is call a recycling agency and let them take care of the rest. You can rest easy knowing that your pipes are free of danger and you don’t have to mess with that nasty, solidified oil.

We’re just one phone call away!

For the fastest and most reliable used oil collection and recycling in New Orleans, be sure to call Safeway Used Oil and Grease. We’ll arrive as soon as possible to pick up your used cooking oil and take it to the appropriate destination to be recycled.

Categorised in: Cooking Oil Recycling