The Thanksgiving holiday often brings with it all kinds of leftovers. The City of Lexington has a suggestion for a different kind of leftover. The annual Gobble Grease Toss will be held Friday for those families that fry up turkeys this week. Environmental Initiatives Specialist Jennifer Myatt said the used cooking oil can be dropped off between 10:00 and 2:00 at Redwood Cooperative School at 166 Crestwood Drive.
“We just asked that people don’t bring it in their fryer because then we have to empty it somewhere to transport it. And that you don’t bring it in a bag because the bags break very easily and can make a big mess,” said Myatt.
So, the recommended way to bring in the used cooking grease from the turkey fryer is in the disposable container it came in. Myatt noted dumping this grease down the drain can cause clogs right in the home or down the line in the sanitary sewer system. She added rainwater seeping into sanitary sewers used to be a big culprit before the federal government mandated rehabilitation work.
“It’s less likely that rainwater getting into the is causing as much of our overflows as it was before because we’re fixing those issues. But, what we do see are clogs caused by cooking oil and grease and also flushable wipes,” said Myatt.
The hundreds of gallons of used cooking oil can be recycled. Some of it goes to the UK Center for Applied Energy Research for biofuel research. Myatt said the rest goes to a company that converts the oil to a renewable fuel.
Lexington Environmental Quality and Public Works is a financial supporter of WEKU.
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