Safely dispose of holiday cooking oil in Queen Creek

The holidays are a time of big family meals, which means lots of hot cooking oil.

The town of Queen Creek offers a free recycling program to help residents safely dispose of that cooking oil.

“Cooking oil should never be dumped down a drain or disposed of in the trash, garbage containers, dumpsters or down the public sewage system,” according to a town press release. “Cooking oil poured down the drain negatively affects water quality and can cost thousands of dollars in sewer repairs from pipe blockages.”

Also, placing the cooking oil in trash or recycling carts is also a no-go. That can lead to contamination and spillage in the carts. It also has the potential to cause cart fires or fires in the trash collection vehicles.

Residents can recycle used cooking oil at no charge at the town’s year-round grease collection sites at Fire Station 2 at 24787 S. Sossaman Road, and the QC Recycle Center at 22179 E. Ryan Road.