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Q: Can I recycle my used cooking oil?

A: Dear Tom,

Whether you cook with butter, olive oil or pancetta drippings, your used or unwanted cooking oil and grease can have a life-after-dinner as biofuel. While you can put cooking oil and grease in the garbage you now have another choice - support a local and renewable green fuel movement by donating your kitchen oil!

Local company General Biodiesel has partnered with King County's Wastewater Division to recycle cooking oils and fats into biodiesel fuel that can be used in cars, buses and trucks.

To participate in this recycling program, simply collect kitchen grease from your fryer, pots, pans, and grills in a secure container with a lid, and take it to a drop-off location:

• Pacific Rendering Co. Inc.
  4034 West Marginal Way SW
  Seattle, WA 98106
  Tank (black) located at fence entrance of parking lot

• General Biodiesel Seattle Plant
  6333 First Avenue S
  Seattle, WA 98108
  Tank (round) located on riverside of the plant by glass door entrance

• Central Market
  15505 Westminster Way N
  Shoreline, WA 98133
  Open daily 7am - 11pm

• Mercer Island Presbyterian Church
  3605 84th Avenue SE
  Mercer Island, WA 98040
  Tank (black) located at northern end of parking lot

If you cannot drop it off, put any fats, oils and grease in a secure container with a lid and place in the garbage.

Are you a restaurant owner or manager?
There are many local rendering or energy recovery facilities that process commercially generated fats, oil and grease.

Why are fats, oils and grease an issue?
Fats, oils and grease (FOG) can cause public health and environmental problems when washed down the drain. FOG sticks to the inside of sewer pipes, contributing to line blockages that can cause raw sewage overflows that put public health and the environment at risk.

Seattle residents, here are some resources to learn more about Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG).

• Don't Let Cooking Oil Go to Waste
  King County Press Release
  11/24/2009

• King County Wastewater Treatment
  Things You Can Do

• Let's Talk Trash: Protecting Water Quality

• General Biodiesel

• Ronald Wastewater District
  Fats, Oil and Grease Best Management Practices

• Cooking Oil Recycling Opportunities
  King County Press Release

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