Its that time of year again! Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with delicious food! As you cook those tasty turkeys, it is important to remember that with those fantastic feasts comes a costly dilemma: what to do with all that grease?!
Remember how your Mom always warned you to not pour your used cooking grease down the drain? Well, she was right! Greasy oil produced from cooking many foods, especially holiday dishes, can be extremely harmful to drainage and septic systems. Damage to these systems, in a domestic household can be extremely difficult and expensive to repair. Even small amounts of cooking oil can hurt your pipes and your wallet.
On the other hand, many people instead throw their grease away in the garbage. While this may protect your pipes, grease dumped in the backyard creates even more problems! Oil floats on water and does not absorb well into the soil. It coats the ground and all animals that come into contact with it, often killing them! It is essentially an intentional mini oil spill. Also, certain chemicals and substances in used cooking oil can be extremely toxic to the environment, so landfill placement is unsafe because it creates the possibility for those toxins to enter waterways, thus polluting your drinking water. The problem is that the meals we love most, are often the most harmful to our pipes and environment, so a safe alternative method of disposal is necessary.
This holiday season, Green Energy Biofuel continues to provide the solution to your problem! We will be holding an oil collection drive on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, on November 24th at the Soda City Market in Columbia. This is the perfect opportunity for you to not only get rid of your pesky oil but to recycle it and stroll around the market!
After you’ve stuffed your families full of turkey, safely pour that leftover oil into a sealable container (mason jars work great, or any other container that you do not need anymore will work). Then on Saturday morning, bring those sealed containers to our booth at the market! We will be handing out some great swag to those who recycle their oil with us! Moreover, you can learn more about our recycling process and how you can contribute to making Columbia a greener place to live for everyone.
In case you are not able to bring your oil to the Soda City Market, you can always swing by the Richland or Lexington County Recycling Center and pour your grease into our recycling container conveniently located there the whole year round.
All of the grease collected on Saturday (24 November) will then be processed at one of our facilities to be turned into clean biodiesel! This year, all of the profits from the oil drive will be donated to our annual Christmas Food Drive. Be sure to come out, recycle your oil and support our community sustainability! Remember, Good Turkeys Go Green!
