Industry Updates

What Is The Easiest Way We Can Do To Our Used Cooking Oil?

Have you ever got confused about how to manage your used cooking oil? In many cases, sometimes as the one who is doing the cooking, we must deal with the issue of disposing or recycling our used cooking oil. 

Used Cooking Oil (UCO) refers to oils that have been used for cooking and frying. According to katadata.co.id mentioned in Webinar Mengenal Potensi dan Dampak Minyak Jelantah held by Waste4Change, the level of consumption of cooking oil in the household area has reached 13 million tons/year or equals to 16.2 million kiloliters/year. 

One thing for sure, it’s dangerous to reuse the cooking oil many times, as repeated use of cooking oil changes its composition and releases acrolein, which is a potentially carcinogenic chemical.

Then, what should we do with our used cooking oil? Keep reading to find out more!

The Used Cooking Oil and Its Negative Consequences 

Since the repeated used of cooking oil is dangerous let’s take a look at several characteristics of  the cooking oil you better not use anymore:

  • The color changes darker 
  • It smells fishy and stale 
  • It becomes thicker in texture

Those characteristics above tell you to stop using the used cooking oil and find other uses of it. If you keep using the used cooking oil more than 3 times you may consider stopping it now as it will bring several health consequences such as;  1). Increasing the cholesterol level, 2). Causing heart attack, 3). Causing cancer 

Used cooking oil. Source: euractiv.com

Used Cooking Oil and What Not to Do to it

As cooking oil is still being widely used especially in a household, dealing with the used cooking oil disposal may become another issue. Most people decide to dispose of the used cooking oil right into the kitchen sink, sewage, or even soil. If you are one of them, consider stopping it now as disposing of used cooking oil, not in the right way will just bring other problems, such as: 

1. It will clog the plumbing 

The mixing between the used cooking oil and sand/soil when it’s simply poured into the drainage will potentially clog the drainage. 

2. Causing water pollution 

The used cooking oil that’s disposed of into the water (river or sea) will be floating on the surface of the water and blocking the sunlight. This condition will disrupt the photosynthetic process of plants and reduce the oxygen levels needed by marine life.

3. Causing soil pollution 

When the used cooking oil is disposed irresponsibly, it will clog the soil pores, leave it hard and reduce its fertility.  

Used Cooking Oil As Biodiesel Material 

According to data from The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on the Webinar: Knowing the Potential and Impact of Used Cooking Oil, the use of biodiesel in Indonesia has been increasing since 2016. Starting from 3.01 kiloliters in 2016, the use of biodiesel in 2020 has reached 9.59 million kiloliters.

Not only turning it into soap and candles, used cooking oil can also be the main material for biodiesel. As stated by The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, reflecting on the high level of cooking oil consumption at the household level in Indonesia, the used cooking oil can meet 32% of the national biodiesel demand if it’s managed properly. In addition, the use of biodiesel as an energy alternative is also recorded to reduce 91.7% of CO2 emissions compared to diesel.

The cycle of managing used cooking oil into biodiesel. Source: KESDM

What Can We Do To Our Used Cooking Oil?

In order to avoid the bad impacts coming from the irresponsible way of disposing of used cooking oil, you may try several ways below: 

Turning it into soap or candle

Instead of disposing of it right away, you can transform your used cooking oil into crafty things such as soap or candles. Find the tutorial that suits you best on Youtube.

Use it for other practical use 

You can also turn your used cooking oil as a lubricant and remover for your household appliance.

Send your used cooking oil 

Having enough used cooking oil at home? For Bekasi residents, now you can send the used cooking oil to the nearest hamlet office (Kantor RW), learn the details here, or send it through our Send Your Waste service. 

To find out more about what the used cooking oil is, you can pay a visit to our webinar recording in our Youtube channel here and also here to become familiar with its potential. 

Posted on Last Updated on
Bagikan Artikel Ini

Mulai Pengelolaan Sampah
Secara Bertanggung Jawab
Bersama Waste4Change

Hubungi Kami