I have recently received several inquiries about how to deal with used cooking oils. Those could be either olive oil, safflower oil, or whatnot that we add to the pan, or it could mean the grease and oil that collects in the pan when we cook a roast, a chicken or a batch of bacon.
What we collect in these operations is actually pretty nasty stuff, but it can be handled in a couple of different ways, depending on the processor and the quantities you have on hand. It cannot be put into regular recycling, because it’s really food waste, and can’t be separated out from the rest of recycling. That’s the same issue as with any sort of food waste.
There are currently three companies collecting food waste in Brunswick, and each handles used oils in a slightly different way.
Garbage to Garden can handle small amounts — about a cup or less — by soaking it up in newspaper then putting that in the bucket or letting it harden up, then wrapping it in the newspaper, which might be less messy. They also have a unique and interesting alternative, which is that it be poured into a separate and sealed in a container, which is then left on top of your bucket. If it’s not a clear container, please be sure it’s clearly marked. If you do that, they use it to make the soap with which they clean the buckets every week! I like that idea a great deal.
We Compost It has similar rules. They will accept small quantities soaked into newspaper, and they again define small quantities as less than a cupful in a five-gallon pail. The oils will compost, but they tend to make a mess getting to that point. In this case, liquids would make your bucket very difficult to keep clean.
Agri-Cycle, which collects the materials from the totes by the Public Works leaf drop on Industry Road would prefer to not have the stuff left in the totes. Their issue is not that they can’t digest the stuff in their anaerobic digester, but that the liquid makes a mess, especially when the totes are tipped up for emptying. If you’re dealing with the usual small amounts we’re discussing here, you can let it harden, then wrap it in newsprint before leaving it in the tote.
If you have larger quantities, you can call Agri-Cycle, or you can deliver it in any quantity to Maine Standard Biofuels, which is near Exit 8 from the Turnpike in Portland. Commercial users can arrange for pickup of 55-gallon drums or even larger tanks.
The Recycle Bin is a weekly column on what to recycle, what not to recycle, and why, in Brunswick. The public is encouraged to submit questions by email to brunsrecycleinfo@gmail.com. Harry Hopcroft is a member of the Brunswick Recycling and Sustainability Committee.
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