(Photo: Getty Images)
Even the most ardent bacon lovers will admit that that
dealing with leftover bacon grease is no fun.
What should you do with it? Let’s start with what you should
NEVER do: Pour it down the drain.
Even the tiniest amounts of bacon grease or cooking oil can
clog up your pipes and ultimately back up sewer systems.
Rinsing with a lot of hot water as you
pour it down the drain won’t help. Once that grease cools down, it solidifies
and sticks to pipes.
Luckily Earth 911
has plenty of suggestions for how to responsibly dispose, reuse, and even
recycle your leftover cooking oil.
-
Absorb small amounts of grease with shredded paper, used kitty
litter, or other absorbent materials and then throw it in the
trash. -
Pour oil in a metal container (coffee cans are a
popular option). You can throw it out once it solidifies. -
Some people save
bacon grease or used cooking oil to reuse for cooking. If you choose to do
that, you might want to strain
it first and store it in the fridge. Again, a coffee can comes in handy. -
A growing number of communities are offering
residents the ability to recycle their cooking oil. Search Earth 911 for local options.
Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green’s users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.