Recycling all that Thanksgiving cooking oil into make-up, cleaning soap and more

Michael Carey expects about 100 gallons of used cooking oil to be taken to Orange Coast school's Recycling core in the days after Thanksgiving.

Cooking oil, which is taken to a rendering plant from the Costa Mesa faculty by an Orange-based enterprise, is then recycled for use in make-up, cleaning soap, candles, biodiesel, pet food and other items.

"It's appealing for me since it's one other technique to recycle," pointed out Carey, the college's environmental and sustainability coordinator. "Taking anything that could be thrown into the trash, giving it yet another lifestyles and making it into something new, besides the fact that the idea of inserting it for your face sounds basically gross."

An additional 50 gallons are anticipated after Christmas.

What begun as a pilot mission spearheaded with the aid of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District in 2012 to support residents keep away from disposal of fats, oils and greases in trash cans and drains has now become a permanent partnership with the school's refurbished $7.5-million recycling center.

"Grease, mainly from frying a turkey, that's 5 gallons of grease — what do you do with it?" observed Scott Carroll, universal supervisor of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District.

If poured down the drain, cooking oil and grease may cause blockages that cause expensive hurt to lateral sewer traces and the environment, in accordance with the sanitary district.

Residents can pour cooled oil right into a sturdy container and take it to OCC's Recycling core at 2701 Fairview road in Costa Mesa.

The middle, which accepts used cooking oil 12 months-round, is open from eight a.m. to five p.m. Mondays via Fridays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends.