Pretty sure that the recent holiday feasts meant you’ve accumulated quite a volume of used cooking oil in your household—hopefully not down your drain pipes.
While you can reuse cooking oil—but only to a certain extent—it comes to a point when even the most frugal home cook knows it’s time to dispose of it. And cooks worth their salt know it is a no-no to pour murky oil down the sink. You just don’t do it. First because it clogs up the drain pipe, and second, because god knows where these pipes lead.
Chances are the pipes end in a body of water where, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the used oil can cause devastating physical effects such as coating animals and plants with grease and suffocating them by oxygen depletion. The oil can also pollute water and food sources and develop into materials that linger in the environment for many years. Yikes!
So, what do we do with used cooking oil?
In some lucky localities, there are used oil collectors who repurpose this as ecologically-sound products like biodiesel.
We recently found a Valenzuela-based on-demand service that picks up used oil from your door for free: the RMC Oil and Eco Solutions. The company does not only cater to households, but also restaurants, fast food chains and catering services that need to dispose of not just used cooking oil but also used engine oil, coconut based oil and chemicals, used coffee grounds and other solid scrap materials.
What happens to these frying by-products?
After pickup, these used products go to factories and plants that recycle and use them as raw materials in their finished products that include animal feed, petroleum products, soap, fertilizer and biofuel.
How do you book a used oil pickup?
RMC currently services only Metro Manila with collection scheduled every Sunday. You can confirm a pickup as late as Friday every week by messaging them through 0917-6721997 or 8516-3833 or sending them an email at rmcecosolutions@gmail.com.
Provide the following information:
- Full name
- Address of collection
- Volume of used cooking oil (minimum five liters)
- Contact number
Once confirmed, their collectors will contact you about the schedule of pickup. Names and other identification of collectors including the plate number, model and type of collection vehicle will be sent to facilitate easy transaction.
So yes, this is where your used oil should go, not down the drain.
Do you know other utilities that provide the same service? Let us know.