Thanksgiving is now almost over, and you impressed your family with that deep-fried turkey.
But as everyone enjoys every bite of that bird you prepared, you’re looking at the oil left over in the kitchen and trying to figure out what to do?
Well, don’t dump it down the drain. Instead, Hillsborough County’s Public Utilities Department is offering is cooking oil recycling effort, or CORE, to residents in what they say is a convenient way to recycle their used cooking oil.
Used, cooled cooking oil can be stores in free cooking oil jugs provided by the county, or in an other sturdy, spill-proof, non-breakable containers that are capped securely, and taken to a CORE collection site. Those sites are at:
• Northwest Customer Service Center, 15610 Premiere Drive in Tampa
• Northlakes Recreation Center, 2640 Lakeview Drive in Tampa
• Woodlake Park, 9207 Woodlake Blvd., in Town n’ Country
• Town n’ Country Pump Station, 5505 Town n’ Country Blvd., in Tampa
• Brandon Support and Operations Complex, 332 N. Falkenburg Road in Tampa
• Covington Gardens Pump Station, 6505 Covington Gardens Drive in Apollo Beach
Used cooking oil is a serious problem for residential plumbing and the county’s wastewater collection system, officials said. When cooking oil is poured down the drain, it gels and solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes, sewage pipelines, and sewage lift stations. The congealed oil can constrict water flow and cause plumbing backups.
Running hot water down the sink does not help, because the water eventually cools.
The CORE program is for residential cooking oil disposal only. For more information on the program, visit HillsboroughCounty.org/CORE.
