Recycle your holiday cooking oil: Free, simple options for Austinites

by Chase Karacostas

The holidays are right around the corner, and thousands of Austinites — probably including you — will be cooking up a turkey and countless side dishes for a crowd. Whether you’re frying a turkey or roasting a ham, you’ll likely have a lot of cooking oil and grease left over. 

It’s important to dispose of that cooking oil and grease properly. Never pour it down the drain or garbage disposal! It’s one of the main causes of sewer “grease blob” clogs that can lead to costly repairs and wastewater overflows. 

The good news: You can recycle used cooking oil and grease in Austin. 

• Pick-up: Residential customers in single-family homes and up to fourplexes can schedule up to three on‑demand Household Hazardous Waste pickups per year per address, and cooking oil and grease are accepted. There are no additional fees for these collections.  

• Drop off: Austinites can also take cooking oil and grease to the Recycle & Reuse Center, which is free for Austin and Travis County residents.  

You can make an appointment for either service through the My Schedule tool, the Austin Recycles app or by calling 3-1-1.  

Prepping your cooking oil for recycling 

Put your leftover cooking oil and grease in clearly labeled containers up to 5-gallons for recycling pick-up or drop-off. (Maximum of 30 gallons total per appointment.)  

Once collected, the oil is picked up by a vendor and turned into biodiesel — a great way to keep valuable resources out of landfills.