Don't Flush It! Holiday Cooking Fat Collected At Local Sites

LAKEWOOD, CO -- A holiday turkey that feeds a family gathering can generate about a cup of fat -- for those who deep fry their turkeys, even more. But what happens to all that fat after the holiday? Many people pour the fat down their sinks or flush it down the toilet, causing congealed buildups in their pipes and the nation's sewer systems.

Last month, the City of Baltimore discovered a congealed "fat berg" of kitchen fat, oil and grease (called FOG) that had blocked sewer pipes under Penn Station, causing a sewage backup. Flushing kitchen grease into the sewer system can cost taxpayers millions of dollars to fix, said water treatment company FluxAqua in a statement.

“It is quite a spectacle to see dark brown tanks turn silver every Thanksgiving,” says Nick Hansen, a senior wastewater treatment plant operator in California, in a statement. “It’s the turkey grease floating to the surface and the sunlight reflecting off of it.”

What to do with leftover cooking oil this Thanksgiving?

Various Metro-Denver municipalities and Boulder have teamed up with Colorado renewable-energy company ClearEcos to collect that holiday kitchen fat and turn it into biodiesel fuel, most of which is used right here in Colorado.

How to donate your holiday kitchen fat:

• Make sure cooking fat is cool
• Strain out food particles and pour into a container (preferably the container that held the fat before)
• Do not add water or any other additives
• Seal container tightly
• Bring to cooking fat recycling center and carefully pour into collection barrels.

ClearEcos is hosting special holiday kitchen fat collection events at the following sites:

Thanksgiving Special Events, Saturday Nov. 25, 10:00-1:00

City of Aurora
17200 E. Mexico Ave
Aurora, CO 80017

City of Lakewood
1068 Quail St.
Lakewood, CO 80215

ClearEcos operates year-round fat collection sites at the following recycling centers where residents can recycle oil any time of year.

City of Thornton Recycling
12450 Washington Street
Thornton, CO 80241

City of Brighton - Wastewater Plant
325 N. Kuner Rd
Brighton, CO 80601

City of Arvada
11200 W. 64th Ave
Arvada, CO 80004

City of Broomfield
3001 West 124th Ave
Broomfield, CO 80020

City of Boulder
Eco-Cycle CHaRM: Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials

6400 Arapahoe Ave
Boulder, CO 80303

Watch a video from the City of Lakewood here:

Image via City of Lakewood