Go green on Black Friday by recycling your used cooking oil at the Gobble Grease Toss. If you fry your turkey on Thanksgiving, bring your used cooking oil to the Redwood Cooperative School, 166 Crestwood Drive, on Friday, Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The fourteenth annual Gobble Grease Toss is a partnership between the City of Lexington, the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER), Redwood School and Kelley Green Biofuel. Every year, Lexington residents recycle hundreds of gallons of cooking oil to keep it out of the landfill and bring attention to the harm caused by pouring cooking oil down the drain.
Some of the used cooking oil will be used for biofuel research at UK CAER, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. Kelley Green Biofuel will convert the remainder of the used cooking oil into a renewable fuel.
“The Gobble Grease Toss connects our research to the community by giving us access to a realistic waste feedstock, namely, used oil from people’s homes. The partnership with Kelley Green Biofuel ensures that the entirety of the oil collected is converted to fuel since CAER’s processing capacity is limited,” said Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, Associate Director of the UK CAER and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the UK Department of Chemistry.
Redwood Cooperative School is looking forward to co-hosting the Gobble Grease Toss for the eighth year. "Each year, the Gobble Grease Toss allows our students a way to engage the community in sustainable practices,” said Sarah Cummins, Head of Redwood. “They understand that our daily choices have an impact on the environment and their future, and we enjoy witnessing the capacity they have for sharing that knowledge with the greater community. Our students will be there to welcome you, gather your used cooking oil, and help everyone be a little greener this holiday season."
The Gobble Grease Toss is free for all Fayette County residents (no businesses, please). Please bring your cooking oil in a disposable container, hard-sided container with a lid. Do not bring cooking oil in a bag. Remain in your car and a volunteer will remove the cooking oil for you.
If you cannot make it to the Gobble Grease Toss, you can properly dispose of cooking oil by letting it solidify in the refrigerator and throwing it away in your green trash cart. Cooking oil should never be poured down sink drains, as it can clog pipes in both your home and the city’s sewer system.
