If you run a cafeteria, a delicatessen or a restaurant, you will eventually have to square up with how to dispose of the used cooking oil. You will generate a good amount and it accumulates fast.
Today, you do not have to worry about disposing of the used cooking oil. You can get a used cooking oil company to collect the oil, clean it up chemically and process it further into different products.
If you run a food business and you generate a lot of used cooking oil daily, you should find out whether the company that collects it disposes of it responsibly.
If you make sure that none of your old cooking oil goes to the landfill, you will be doing Mother Nature a great turn.
Here is how the cleaning process goes like:
Collection
Are you collecting your used cooking oil or are you letting most of it go down the drain? You should let your kitchen staff know that none of the old cooking oil should find its way down the sink.
When the oil is hot, it flows and you can pour it down the sink easily. However, as soon as it comes into contact with the cold pipes and cold water, it will solidify and cause clogging.
To prevent this, there are special containers, some supplied by the company that collects your oil. All the old cooking oil should go there, where it can cool down. Keep the containers covered to prevent spills or hazards when the oil is hot.
The containers for collecting used cooking oil are wax-coated. This helps to prevent the used oil from sticking to the interior surfaces of the container. Emptying such containers is so easy.
Industrial cleaning of used cooking oil is large and complicated. When the company collects the old cooking oil, it will process it into different products.
If you would like to clean your small quantity of used oil at home, follow the process below:
Cleaning used cooking oil at home
In your home or commercial kitchen, it is still possible to clean used cooking oil and reuse it.
Skim the oil and remove the visible food particles
Always start with the simple things. Start by removing the small particles that you can see. To do this, you are going to need an oil skimmer, which you can buy cheaply. While it only removes the large food particles, it will help you a great deal.
Remove the small oil particles by straining
You can use cheesecloth to strain the oil, but wait until it cools down completely. This is going to capture the finest sediment that makes the oil change its color and look dirty. You may also use a finely meshed strainer if you have one. You can also use coffee filters as they work just fine.
You will notice that the cooking oil changes its color and becomes clearer. You can then reuse the cooking oil to cook similar foods.
Please note that such a process is only possible for home cooking oil. If you are running a food business, you will need to hire specialized services for used cooking oil collection to handle bulk amounts of the same.
