Authored by Susan Cheah
Published at 08 Apr, 2021
11 Ways Used Cooking Oil (UCO) Can Be Reused
Cooking oil is the most important ingredient in any kitchen, be it the home kitchen or the commercial retail kitchen, or the central kitchens. Regardless of the type of kitchen, there is one thing that must be done, which is the disposal of the used cooking oil, especially commercial usage is usually in large volumes.
At home, most people would just pour it into the kitchen sink which will be hardened it comes in contact with water in the pipe or drainage system which may cause a clog. In commercial cases, proper equipment like a grease trap or interceptor must be installed and the large volume of cooking oil used must be deposited into a holding tank.
While proper disposal is great, recycling these used cooking oils (UCO) is even better. It does not only helps to protect the environment, preventing problems that could damage the municipal sewer system or worse our living environment. It also offers financial rewards to you by simply recycling them.
If you run a commercial kitchen, you can work with a professional used cooking oil recycling company like Capital Oil to help you manage your used cooking oil, with a scheduled and regular pickup for proper recycling.
Used cooking oil does not only have vast potential for recycling but also can be repurposed and recycling in a number of different ways from being used directly as fuel for modified engines to biodiesel or simply being the lubricant in your home.
There are some 10 different uses of used cooking oil ranging from home DIY to advance recycling and re-purposing of the oil.
Lighting - If your home uses an oil lamp, the used cooking oil definitely comes in handy to fuel those lamps, for free!
Locks - One of the important yet underrated house protection is regularly lubricating your locks especially when your key starts to sticks in the lock. Spreading some of the used cooking oil on your key does wonder to prevent the keys from sticking.
General Lubricant - Used cooking oil is an effective lubricant for many things around the house from squeaking hinges to troublesome locks. But the more important benefit is to prevent rust on metal surfaces like your metal tools.
Leather - Used cooking oil is also an effective ingredient used to soften and preserve your leather items like your home furniture and others.
Rattan and Wicker Furniture - Rattan and wicker furniture tend to crack easily caused by dryness. Simply applying some used cooking oil onto the surface of rattan and wicker furniture with a soft cloth will help keep it protected from cracks.
Kitchen Equipment - Wash your new pots and pans before you use them and rub some used oil on the surface can help keep them protected.
Car - Rough dirt and debris from any surface of your cars like brakes and the body can be easily removed with used cooking oil. Simply apply some cooking oil on a rag or paper towel and wipe the affected areas. Used cooking oil can effectively remove dirt, grime, pollen, bugs, and other gunk.
Furniture Conditioner - Wood furniture in your home that looks dull or scratched can be polished and restored with a mixture of used cooking oil and vinegar to serve as the polish of your wood furniture.
Gardening tools - Grass and soils can stick to your gardening tools like shovels, trowels, and lawnmower blades. Coating these tools with a layer of used cooking oil can prevent grass and dirt from sticking to them.
Animal feed - Other than just using it as a solution, used cooking oil can be used as animal feed in a number of different ways. You can consider mixing some oil in with the birdseed in your bird feeder or drizzle some used oil on the food for your dog or cat which to improve the taste for them and keep their coats shiny.
Composting - Adding small amounts of used vegetable oil to your compost pile will feed the worms that help with the composting process. These are however only effective if you use used vegetable oil because animal-based oils will attract nuisance animals and cause pathogens to form.
There are simply too many ways these used cooking oils can be beneficial to our daily life, in fact, we are going to share with you extra examples of how we can use them on ourselves.
Removing paint from your hands - If you have done painting you will know that paint is one of the hardest things to wash off if it gets on your hands. However, just rub your hands with a bit of used cooking oil can help to remove the paint from your hands easily.
Hair moisturizer - Used vegetable oil can be used to condition and moisturize your hair. Heat up half a cup of oil so it is about room temperature and massage it into your hair. After that simply shampoo and rinse your hair to remove the oil.
Soap making - Lye soaps can be made using used cooking oils quite easily. If you are interested, simply look for simple steps with Google, there will be an abundance of resources available.
As you can see, the potential is endless, whether it is animal-based or vegetable oil, there will always be a used for it, which makes it one of the most reusable products in your home. Now that you learned about this, remember that you should never ever simply dispose of it by putting it in the trash or washing it down the drain. All you need to do is having the simple habit of saving your cooking oil in a jar and using it for these various alternative uses.
If you run a commercial kitchen, you can consider having a professional used cooking oil (UCO) recycling company like Capital Oil to help you with recycling your used cooking oil, to save the environment, and have some profit from it.
Capital Oil offers a quick, clean, and timely collection of Used Cooking Oil (UCO). Collection schedules are established in advance with customers to ensure there are no overflows of UCO and are generally scheduled on a weekly service cycle. We can also customize a collection interval to suit your specific needs.