Cooking Oil Disposal

[Leon]

What to do with used peanut oil? Willl it break down in the compost pile or break down the compost pile?

[Enzyme11]

It should break down okay in a compost environment, if you don't put so much oil in the pile that it overwhelms the other ingredients. Five gallons in a big compost pile probably is no problem; five gallons added at the same time to, say, a 1 cubic yard pile probably is too much. If your pile is small in comparison to the volume of oil you want to dispose of, add the oil in small batches over time. If you have some of the dry drain clearing enzyme around, adding some of that to the oil should help speed the breakdown process. The degree of acceleration will depend some on how warm the ambient temperature is. I probably would add the oil into the middle of the pile, then cover it with some of the dry matter so as to limit any possible attraction to animals--assuming the oil is infused with the aroma of whatever you may have cooked in it. I also don't think it would be a great idea to add oil to a pile that has a high fireplace ash content.

[dcluck]

Never considered my cooking oil waste as compostable. Thanks for the idea! :)

Enzyme11 wrote: I also don't think it would be a great idea to add oil to a pile that has a high fireplace ash content.

Perhaps I'm missing something basic here, but what would be wrong with having ash (in my case from natural hardwood charcoal) and oil mixed in the pile? A chance for combustion? :?

~Dave

[Enzyme11]

dcluck wrote:

Enzyme11 wrote: I also don't think it would be a great idea to add oil to a pile that has a high fireplace ash content.

Perhaps I'm missing something basic here, but what would be wrong with having ash (in my case from natural hardwood charcoal) and oil mixed in the pile? A chance for combustion? :?

~Dave

I was thinking that the oil and ash could saponify and make something of a soapy problem, but your question makes me thing of another issue. If the pile has much ammonium nitrate in it, adding oil could set up the potential for combustion or explosion. Most people probably no longer have access to ammonium nitrate after the Oklahoma City terrorist attack, but if I had some leftovers of it, I wouldn't want to mix it with oil.

[dcluck]

Alright, thanks for clarifying. :) I'll take the advice you gave earlier and add it sparingly over time. The amount of ash from charcoal is pretty minimal in my case so there shouldn't be any problem.

~Dave

P.S. I really do appreciate your posts here on these forums, Enzyme!