WHAT HAPPENS TO MY COOKING OIL?
When thinking about cooking oil, our first thought it’s often that, since it is edible and natural, we can just throw it in the environment, but it can actually cause serious problems.
It doesn’t mix itself with the water, so if we throw it down the drain it can reach groundwater, polluting arable land and drinking water supplies, making them unusable; moreover when the oil reach the lakes or the seas, it forms a layer on the surface that makes the sun's rays less easy to pass through, altering the normal natural balance of marine habitats.
Even where adequate sewage systems are in place, the dispersion of large quantities of these substances causes problems because it could compromise the functionality of the sewage treatment plant and its biological recycling processes.
Moreover it is also important not to use the same cooking oil, because during heating, vegetable oils oxidise and produce substances that are potentially harmful to health.
After its use, the oil should be collected in plastic containers, often provided directly by the municipality, and taken to the appropriate center.
Proper disposal allows us not only to protect the environment, but also to give the collected oil a new life. In recent years, there have been an increasing number of solutions for recycling used oil. Through the regeneration process, the oil can in fact be:
- transformed into an eco-fuel with a less polluting impact than ordinary oil, such as biodiesel used for heating or fireplaces;
- exploited to make feed for farm animals;
- used as an ingredient to make creams, soaps and vegetable lubricants.
