For most people, throwing away used cooking oil is normal. For example, when you finish frying fish, or frying chicken. Finally, used cooking oil will be thrown away. In fact, we can recycle used cooking oil into something more useful

In this article, we will look at some creative tips for recycling used cooking oil as soap or compost. Let’s find out!

Cooking Oil Recycling Ideas

Used cooking oil from restaurants, factories, or other household waste, is usually only dumped into overflow drains. Actually, there are several used cooking oil recycling ideas that can be done. Among others:

1. Mix as compost

Can't believe that used cooking oil can be used as compost? This is completely true. This is because cooking oil uses 100% vegetable ingredients such as extracted palm oil.

Besides palm oil, cooking oil can also be made from soybeans, corn, sunflowers, grape seeds, olives, and so on.

So, because it is made from natural ingredients, recycling used cooking oil is actually quite simple. You just need to add to the soil compost or manure.

Just keep in mind that used cooking oil is used to cook meat or animal fat, it will attract unwanted flies or insects.

However, the interesting fact is that earthworms like to eat cooking oil. If mixed into compost soil, it will greatly support optimal soil fertility.

2. Add to other solid waste

Before disposing of used cooking oil, you can actually mix used cooking oil with other absorbent waste materials. For example, sawdust, sand, flour, animal manure, and others.

As is known, the solid waste will absorb the used cooking oil quickly. Thus, the environment is neater and helps the cleaning staff in our homes.

3. Make soap

The next useful idea for recycling used cooking oil is to make soap from used cooking oil. Usually, soap is made from fat.

So, we can use used cooking oil to make soap to make it more useful. This method is also 100% better than throwing used cooking oil in the trash.

You need to soak used cooking oil with charcoal for 1 day. Then, after filtering, mix it with 360 grams of water in a special container. If it is well mixed, add 128 grams of caustic soda. Wait 1 hour until the temperature of the solution is 30-35 degrees Celsius.

For a denser texture, stir the mixture with an egg beater. You can add 2 tablespoons of aromatic flowers or according to taste. Then, pour this mixture into a heat-resistant mold. Leave it for 1 month until it hardens and the used cooking oil soap can be used for dish soap or laundry soap.

4. The idea of recycling used cooking oil as an insecticide

Even though flies and small insects love the smell of used cooking oil, it turns out that you can use it to repel insects. Cooking oil will interfere with the respiratory system of harmful insects. Because it coats his body and clogs the pores he uses to breathe.

In addition, cooking oil as a natural insecticide is an environmentally friendly choice.

Here are the steps to make a natural insecticide from used cooking oil:

• Mix 100 ml of used cooking oil with 1 spoon of soap in a container that can be tightly closed.
• Cover tightly and shake until well blended.
• To use this insecticide, you just need to mix 1 liter of water with 2 teaspoons of the mixture. Put it in an insect spray bottle.
• Spray directly on the surface of the affected plant.

Benefits of the idea of recycling used cooking oil into biodiesel

Can we start a diesel engine with used cooking oil? Turns out, the answer is yes! In fact, some restaurants have made the idea of recycling used cooking oil a new business. They sell used cooking oil in large quantities to companies or facilities for processing used cooking oil into biodiesel.

Another example, the Non-Governmental Organization (KSM) in East Tarakan, coordinated by Sardji Sarwan, came up with the idea of recycling used cooking oil into biodiesel. Every day the KSM earns no less than IDR 2 million per month per person.

On average, they are able to produce 180 liters of biodiesel per day with a price range of Rp. 11-15 thousand per liter. The idea of processing used cooking oil into biodiesel is very beneficial from an economic point of view and reduces environmental pollution . Unfortunately, the used cooking oil recycling business is still minimal in Indonesia.

According to Traction Energi Asia statistics, only about 18% of used cooking oil has been collected in Indonesia to be processed into biodiesel. The rest, used cooking oil is only dumped into rivers or sewers.

It is hoped that the younger generation will be able to process used cooking oil waste so that it has more economic value. Because, biodiesel can be an alternative fuel to replace petroleum fuel.

Furthermore, from 18% or about 3 million KL of used cooking oil that can be collected in Indonesia, only 570 KL is made into biodiesel. Meanwhile, around 2.4 million KL has been used for recycled cooking oil and sent to international trade.

Challenges of Recycling Used Cooking Oil into Biodiesel in Indonesia

Why is the recycling of used cooking oil in Indonesia still minimal? According to experts and economists, there are still many problems faced.

For example, the mechanism or procedure for collecting used cooking oil from households, restaurants, cafes, or hotels. They do not know who to contact if they want to provide used cooking oil so that it can be processed better.

Another problem is that the location of biodiesel processing plants is usually only in certain cities. In addition, the technology for processing used cooking oil into biodiesel is still not efficient and needs further improvement in order to function optimally.