Everything you need to know about recycling cooking oil
Cooking Oil includes:
Used cooking oil
Kitchen oil
Old cooking oil
Olive oil
Vegetable oil
Sunflower oil
Canola oil
Avocado oil
Corn oil
Grapeseed oil
Coconut oil
Sesame oil
FIND A RECYCLER
Learn more about recycling cooking oil
How to recycle cooking oil
Cooking oil should not be put in your recycling bin at home. To recycle old or used cooking oil, collect it in a container and drop it off at a recycler that accepts oil. Use the directory on this page to find a recycler near you.
Composting cooking oil
If your council has provided you with a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bin, you may be able to dispose of small amounts of cooking oil in this bin. Check directly with your council to make sure it’s acceptable.
Small amounts of cooking oil can be disposed of in garden composts. To learn more about taking care of a compost at home, visit the food scraps page.
Why recycle?
Disposing of cooking oil incorrectly by pouring it down drains and sinks can lead to plumbing and environmental problems. Recycling the oil ensures it’s not wasted, doesn’t damage the environment and remains part of the circular economy.
What happens to it?
Cooking oils can be filtered and recycled into products such as biofuel, cosmetics, detergents and stockfeed.
Used household cooking oil can be recycled through your local waste transfer station. Simply collect used oil in a container and use the search bar above to locate your nearest used oil recycling facility.
Recycling cooking oil at work
Businesses can access oil-stream management services that provide supply, storage, collection and recycling services.
Find out more
Frequently Asked Questions
Is used cooking oil good for plants?
Although vegetable oils can be diluted with water and sprayed onto your plants’ leaves to clean them or remove pests (such as scale), it’s not a good idea to do this with used cooking oil.
Instead, drop your used cooking oil off at one of your council’s waste transfer stations, or take it to the next household hazardous waste drop-off event near you, so it can be cleaned and recycled into new products – ask your council for more information.
How is cooking oil recycled?
Unused cooking oil cannot be recycled via your household recycling bin, and it must not be poured down the sink. Smaller amounts can be placed in a bottle with a sealed lid and then disposed of in your household garbage bin.
Cooking oil that is not disposed of correctly has the potential to contaminate the environment (especially waterways) and can block plumbing systems if it is poured down the sink. It is also a valuable organic resource. Therefore, it is important to dispose of unwanted cooking oil responsibly and recycle it whenever possible.
Most councils accept cooking oil at their waste transfer stations or recycling facilities. Cooking oil may also be accepted at household hazardous waste drop-off events – ask your local council for more information.
Cooking oil can be cleaned and processed by specialist recyclers for reuse as biofuel, animal feed, compost and industrial soap.
What is recycled cooking oil used for?
Cooking oil is a valuable organic resource and should be recycled so its value is recovered and can be reused again and again.
If correctly disposed of at a local collection point or household hazardous waste drop-off event, your cooking oil can be recycled into a range of materials and products, including biofuel, animal feed, compost and industrial soap.
