LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Instead of dumping any used cooking oil from your Thanksgiving meal, you can donate it to the Gobble Grease Toss.
Lexington residents can go to the Redwood Cooperative School at 166 Crestwood Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to drop off the used oil.
The majority of it will be transformed into fuel for farm equipment. The rest goes toward biofuel research through a partnership between the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research, Kelley Green Biofuel, Redwood Cooperative School, and the City of Lexington.
"The alternative is that some folks pour it down the drain, and that's terrible because it clogs the entire sewer system," researcher Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, said. "Or if they dispose of it properly, it ends up in a landfill, so it's almost taking something that would end up as waste and turning it into something useful."
Santillan-Jimenez said it's a carbon-neutral solution that is much better for the environment than petroleum-derived fuels.
"We're running out of time, and we better start treating this as the emergency as it is," he said regarding climate change. "The time for complacency and kicking the can down the road is definitely coming to an end."
If you cannot make it to the Gobble Grease Toss event, UK recommends putting the oil in the fridge so it hardens and then dumping it in your green trash bin.
