What You Need to Know About Recycling Cooking Oil

Oil is one of the greatest tools in every chef’s kit. It’s used for everything from sautéing fresh veggies, to frying up chicken tenders and tasty cuts of bacon, to creating a delicate in-house salad dressing.

But while cooking oil has a place in any commercial kitchen, it’s important that you have a plan for disposing of the used cooking oil after meal prep is over. Don’t just pour it down the drain – it poses a plumbing and environmental hazard. Rather, turn that grease into gold by participating in a recycling program!

Why Recycle Cooking Oil?

At a glance, used cooking oil might look like kitchen waste – but it’s actually an important commodity. That leftover grease can be used to make commercial and household products, like soaps and detergents, or even converted into biodiesel fuel for an eco-friendly alternative to petroleum.

By recycling your kitchen grease, you’re doing your part to keep waste out of oceans and landfills, and providing consumers around the world with Earth-conscious options for the products they need. Depending on the recycling providers available in your area, you may even be able to turn that “waste” into an additional revenue stream for your business.

Collecting and Storing Used Cooking Oil

As an owner/manager of a commercial kitchen, you already know that fats and oils can’t simply be dumped down the drain. Environmental regulations (both local and national) require you to keep large quantities of grease out of the sewage system on penalty of heavy fines. And even if pouring leftover oil into the sink weren’t illegal, it would still be harmful to your facility’s plumbing.

Rather, cooking oil should be stored in a secure container, and either recycled or disposed of in a landfill (though we’d recommend the former). Train your kitchen staff on proper grease handling procedures in order to stay compliant with the law and to prevent unnecessary plumber’s bills.

Grand Natural provides indoor rolling bins or outdoor steel bins (your choice) with secure lids to those who contract with us for kitchen oil collection services. Periodic pick-ups can be scheduled based on the specific needs of your commercial kitchen, and occur before your oil containers are full.

Grease Trap Management

Realistically, no busy kitchen is going to preserve 100% of the cooking oil used. Droplets from cookware will inevitably make it into the sink, for instance, and accidental spills are always a possibility. That’s why commercial kitchens are fitted with grease traps, which are designed to skim fats and oils out of your wastewater before they can enter the plumbing system.

Grease traps aren’t magic, though – they will eventually fill up with oil and lose their effectiveness as a filter. Kitchen service professionals can (and should) empty your grease traps on a regular basis, hauling away the used oils to be disposed of in an environmentally safe fashion.

Note that unlike “yellow grease” (the relatively clean oil taken straight out of a fryer), oil removed from a grease trap generally contains rotted food solids and other impurities, making it unfit for reuse. Just another reason why it’s best to keep as much oil as possible from entering your grease traps to begin with!

For world-class professional kitchen services with an Earth-friendly focus, there’s only one Grand Natural. Call us today at (855) 519-5550 for more information, or contact us online.