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Proper disposal of used cooking oil/fat/grease

bloviatrix

By bloviatrix
in Cooking

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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

 

Meh?

 

Still sorry, but no.

 

Not to be dismissive, but the conclusion that this paper comes to is ridiculous. Correlating a concentration to a surface monolayer is next to impossible, given the nature of the experiment. I’ll look at the mechanisms from work tomorrow where my access to primary literature is slightly better ...

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btbyrd

btbyrd

Posted
Posted

It may be bunk, but the fry oil people have thought to add it in. I'm sure your scientific chops are better than my own. The use of silicones in fry oil might be a bunch of stupid industry nonsense (like vacuum marination of meat) but there's at least a purported rationale at work. I look forward to hearing what you're able to find out. I did a quick glance through what I have available to me, and found a couple things that may be interesting on the topic. Here's a relevant literature review and critical discussion from 2004:
 

Effectiveness of dimethylpolysiloxane during deep frying
Author: Márquez-Ruiz, Gloria
Journal: European journal of lipid science and technology
ISSN: 1438-7697
Date: 11/01/2004
Volume: 106
Issue: 11
Page: 752-758
DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.200400999
 
And another one purporting to establish the utility of DMPS in continuous frying operations.

Polydimethylsiloxane Shows Strong Protective Effects in Continuous Deep-Frying Operations
Author: Totani, Nagao
Journal: Journal of oleo science
ISSN: 1345-8957
Date: 2018
Volume: 67
Issue: 11
Page: 1389-1395
DOI: 10.5650/jos.ess18047
 
Maybe it's all a ruse by Big Silicone. Or maybe the food science guys just don't understand the mechanism properly. In any event, they're adding silicone to commercial fry oil in minute quantities in an effort to stave off oxidation. 
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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, btbyrd said:

 

It may be bunk, but the fry oil people have thought to add it in

 

 

Don’t get me wrong: I am with you that the industry adds certain stabilisers to processed frying oils. I am interested in the underlying mechanisms (which for some at least are clear to me). The same for the improved frying properties of (reasonably) aged frying oil. 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, Yana Sizzzlers said:

 

Even I also used same type of oil for fish & for some time bbq. I like to ask something, What Is The Healthiest Oil For Deep Frying? 

 

 

What kind of oil do you use in your several restaurants in India?

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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btbyrd

btbyrd

Posted
Posted

Deep frying in ghee is heavenly. And it is a very stable oil that can be reused. It also has a healthful lipid profile, if the cows were fed on pasture). Expensive, of course, but worth it for a special occasion.

 

If you are going to reuse fry oil, you've got to filter it somehow. Some dedicated fryers have a system that makes this easy, but I typically fry in cast iron on induction so I have no fancy built-in strainers on hand. So I'll filter it through a chinois or a tea strainer depending on the quantity. But Kenji has outlined a fun and creative way to clarify fry oil using gelatin. It's not vegan, of course... but it could be worth trying if you need to get those extra tiny bits of potato starch out of your beef tallow.

 

To get back to disposal issues, I usually pour my cooled fry oil into a ziptop bag and dispose of that with the other household waste. This is easiest with unsaturated fats, because they're liquid and you can just pour them out. Some find this method too messy or fussy, and the Japanese have a solution for them. There is a product called Katameru Tempuru which works to solidify used fry oil so that it's easier to dispose of. I cannot comment on the stuff myself, as pouring it into bags works fine for me. But there are several "cooking oil solidifiers" on the market, if you're in the market for such a thing. Some are even made by S.C. Johnson -- a family company. 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted (edited)

I don't fry foods in part because it's a PITA (for me) to dispose of the expended cooking oil.  How do you dispose of your used cooking oil?

 

This morning I came across an item called FryAway which solidifies the oil making it easy to dump into the compost bin to be hauled away by our city.  Has anyone used this, or a similar product, and what were your results?

 

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

fryaway.jpg.a00a0e08e4acfaaa4ed01a7ca1a4fa74.jpg

 

SolidOil.jpg.33a6237ba619447d7cca71fc0a153a8f.jpg

Edited by Shel_B (log)
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Johntodd

Johntodd

Posted
Posted

If you or a friend keep gardens or raise plants, then you can add the oil to a "bokashi" barrel.

 

It is super simple:  On my farm we keep a 55-gallon drum outside and we dump all kitchen scraps into it and let it rot.  No added innoculant or anything.  Just a good fitting lid and a brick on top in case the wind blows real hard.

 

It takes about a year for our family of 4 with frequent guests up to 12 people to fill the barrel up as it is continually rotting.

 

The smell is none until you open it.  When you open it to add more in, lost souls will escape from it in the odor. 🤣  But when it's matured it will smell like a clean horse stable.

 

It is AMAZING fertilizer!  I dilute it with 10% bokashi and 90% water.

All food waste goes in there: fry oil, bones, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, etc.

Hope this helps!

PS After two weeks in there (bones, not dogs!), your dogs will not even want the bones.

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted (edited)

Our waste hauler specifically says not to put cooking oil in the compost bin.  I save it in the bottles it comes in and put it in the regular trash, where is likely goes to a landfill, as @KennethT said. 

There are oil and grease recyclers that accept used cooking oil.  Last time I checked, there wasn't one handy to me but should check again. 

 

Edited to add that there are plenty of places that accept used motor oil. I suppose because any place that sells it is required to accept it for recycling.  Too bad the grocery stores don't have the same mandate to collect used cooking oil. 

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

That's what I was concerned about.

 

As of a few years ago (I haven't checked since) it probably wound up in a landfill in China.  For years, China was accepting (buying?) garbage and recycling from the US.  I wonder if it went into creating some of the islands they're making in the S. China Sea?

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
42 minutes ago, KennethT said:

As of a few years ago (I haven't checked since) it probably wound up in a landfill in China.  For years, China was accepting (buying?) garbage and recycling from the US.  I wonder if it went into creating some of the islands they're making in the S. China Sea?

 

Quite possibly. Wherever it goes, it doesn't solve the problem; it just moves it on.

 

As i recall, China was being paid to take some trash for 'recycling' but I think they stopped that a good few years back. Or said they did. Some they did pay for, especially plastics, but that has supposedly stopped too.

 

My oil is collected separately from other trash, but what happens next, I don't know for sure, either.

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted (edited)

The City of El Cerrito has an excellent recycling center and system.  Cooking oil is either recycled or composted depending on its format and composition.  It is not dumped into a landfill.

 

The composted material is distributed free of charge to city residents twice a year.  Residents go to the recycling center where the compost has been dumped in preparation for distribution and the residents can shovel it into their pickup trucks, vehicles, and containers.  The city has a supply of shovels available for the purpose.

 

https://www.el-cerrito.org/952/Drop-Off-Materials-Accepted

Edited by Shel_B (log)
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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Our waste hauler specifically says not to put cooking oil in the compost bin.  I save it in the bottles it comes in and put it in the regular trash, where is likely goes to a landfill, as @KennethT said. 

There are oil and grease recyclers that accept used cooking oil.  Last time I checked, there wasn't one handy to me but should check again. 

 

Edited to add that there are plenty of places that accept used motor oil. I suppose because any place that sells it is required to accept it for recycling.  Too bad the grocery stores don't have the same mandate to collect used cooking oil. 

 

Yeah, no oils or fats in our regional composting program either. 

 

Restaurants and commercial food producers can sell their used cooking oils to companies that will provide storage containers and come and pick it up periodically, but I don't think there's a parallel household program. The collected oils are processed and used for biofuels and other things. 

 

I guess it's possible that some restaurants would let us add to their containers but I don't think they would want the hassle of dealing with a bunch of people coming by!  🙂

 

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Shel_B said:

I don't fry foods in part because it's a PITA (for me) to dispose of the expended cooking oil.

 

1 hour ago, Shel_B said:

The City of El Cerrito has an excellent recycling center and system.  Cooking oil is either recycled or composted depending on its format and composition.  It is not dumped into a landfill.

 

Do you live in El Cerrito?  If so, can you say a little more about why it's such a PITA for you to dispose of the oil?

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AlaMoi

AlaMoi

Posted
Posted

vegetable cooking oils bio-degrade in about 30 days.  lots of natural bacteria do love the stuff....

adding to a compost heap is a viable disposal method, with a caveat....

rodents/skunks/possums/raccoons/groundhogs/etc. all love a tasty high calorie snack - compost 'elements' saturated in oil . . .

mega-appreciated snack....

 

so . . depending on your situation, you may wind up with unwanted visitors.

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Do you live in El Cerrito?  If so, can you say a little more about why it's such a PITA for you to dispose of the oil?

It's all the peripheral things associated with oil disposal and frying.  Getting a container into which the used oil goes is one, as I just don't have any appropriate containers (don't have milk cartons or jugs, for example).  Transferring oil from pot to container just annoys the heck out of me (as does transferring soup and stew to containers).  Scheduling a trip to the recycling center is sometimes annoying as the center is off my beaten path and requires a more-or-less special trip.

 

I recognize that these are minor things, but they annoy me.

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Shel_B said:

I recognize that these are minor things, but they annoy me.

Thanks for your response!  I think I'd find the price of that stuff more annoying than finding an empty bottle and a funnel but it's good to have choices!

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weinoo

weinoo

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Posted

When one of my nephews was in his 20s, he was in a band. The band, such as it was, traveled in a van powered by bio-something (i.e. mostly used cooking oils). One night my sister awoke to an amazing smell, coming from out front of their house, of egg rolls cooking. She went out and sure enough, the band was doing whatever it us they were doing to convert cooking oil to the fuel for their band van. They had gotten it surreptitiously...from behind a chinese restaurant.

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FeChef

FeChef

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, weinoo said:

When one of my nephews was in his 20s, he was in a band. The band, such as it was, traveled in a van powered by bio-something (i.e. mostly used cooking oils). One night my sister awoke to an amazing smell, coming from out front of their house, of egg rolls cooking. She went out and sure enough, the band was doing whatever it us they were doing to convert cooking oil to the fuel for their band van. They had gotten it surreptitiously...from behind a chinese restaurant.

Its crazy, You would think your local garbage man would take it as recycling since it could be sold as bio fuel. They probably do if your stupid enough to pay them to take it.

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