Don't pour used cooking oil down the sink or the toilet. Let it cool, strain out the food bits, pour it into a clean, tightly closed plastic bottle, and keep it somewhere cool until you hand it over. Plstka collects used oil from your home as one of the kinds of waste it picks up, and you earn points for it that turn into gifts.
Why can't I pour oil down the sink?
Hot oil looks runny, but once it cools in the pipes it sets and sticks to their walls, and over time it traps food and grease until the drain clogs. Hot water and soap only delay the problem, because the oil sets again a little further down the pipes.
What gets through the pipes reaches the sewer network, makes water treatment harder, and can end up in canals and the sea, harming the life there.
Can I throw it in the rubbish?
Oil thrown loose into a rubbish bag leaks and ruins the bag, smells, draws insects and makes a mess for sanitation workers. It also wastes the chance for that oil to be collected and used in another industry instead of becoming pollution.
The right way, step by step
- Let the oil cool completely in the pot or pan. Never pour it while hot.
- Strain it through a fine sieve or a clean cloth to remove food and bread crumbs.
- Use a funnel to pour it into a clean, dry bottle.
- Close the bottle tightly and label it “used oil” so no one uses it by mistake.
- Keep adding to the same bottle each time you fry until it is full.
Which bottle should I use?
Any plastic bottle with a cap that seals well, such as a large water or juice bottle, washed and dried. Plastic is lighter and safer to carry than glass, and it won't break if dropped. What matters is a tight cap, so the oil doesn't leak in storage or on the way.
Can I mix different oils?
The vegetable cooking oils you fry with at home can go in the same bottle. But don't add water, vinegar, sauce or food scraps, and never mix in car or engine oil or any chemical, because that spoils the whole batch.
How do I know the oil is spent?
If the oil has turned very dark, its smell has changed, it smokes quickly on the heat, or it foams as it warms, it is time for it to leave the kitchen and go into the used-oil bottle instead of being fried with again.
Where do I store it until pickup?
Somewhere cool and dark, like a cupboard under the sink, with the bottle upright and closed. Away from the stove, the oven and the sun, and out of children's reach. Don't keep it next to food, so no one mistakes it for fresh oil.
What do I do if oil spills on the floor?
Don't wash it straight away with water, because it will spread further. Wipe up most of it first with paper towels or an old cloth; for a large spill, sprinkle flour or sawdust to soak it up, then sweep it away. Then wash the spot with hot water and soap. Oil-soaked towels go in the regular rubbish, not in the used-oil bottle.
How can I end up with less leftover oil?
Use a pot sized to the amount you're frying so you need less oil, and fry in batches instead of crowding the pot. Try other ways of cooking, like grilling or the oven, for some dishes. However much you cut down, there will still be used oil — what matters is that it's collected properly and handed over instead of poured down the sink.
If the bottle fills up before pickup day, start a second one and close it the same way, then hand them over together. Don't pour oil from bottle to bottle too often, or it spills and greases the outside; a bottle that's clean on the outside is easier and safer to carry, for you and for the collector.
What does used oil become?
Used oil collected clean goes into other industries, such as biofuel (biodiesel), soap and other industrial products. The bottle in your kitchen can become a raw material instead of a blocked pipe or polluted water.
How do I hand the oil to Plstka?
Add the used oil to your order in the app along with your other waste, and once the order reaches the minimum points, send it with one tap. The collector comes on your area's fixed day and takes the closed bottle, and the points land in your account. The points for oil and every other material are in the materials table.
See the points for each material · Find your area's pickup day · Get the app