Dispose Of Used Cooking Oil Faster With Baking Soda

Getting rid of used cooking oil can be a real pain in the kitchen. While the urge to simply pour it down the drain might be tempting, that's putting oil in the drain is actually a terrible idea. Hot oil can solidify and block your pipes, creating nasty clogs known as "fatbergs." As more food scraps go down the drain, they join forces with the oil, building up the mass of gunks bigger and bigger until they take over your whole pipeline.

It's not just inconvenient, but expensive to deal with, too — calling a plumber to fix a clogged drain can turn out pretty pricey. But here's the good news, not only can you neutralize cooking oil so that it no longer causes you any problems, but you don't even need any fancy chemicals to do it. All you need is a box of baking soda!

The next time you're stuck with a skillet full of oil, sprinkle in plenty of baking soda. It will reduce all of the spent cooking oil down to a harmless brown paste. Simply scoop up the paste with baking paper and toss it in the trash. No more clogged drain pipes!

Baking soda is a powerful all-purpose cleaner because, boasting a pH level of around 8.3, it's highly basic. Cooking oil naturally dissolves in alkaline substances, like baking soda, due to a reaction called saponification. Applying baking soda to grease helps break it down into a soapy paste that's way easier to handle and clean off your skillet.

Now, if some oil has already snuck into your drain and is causing trouble, don't fret. You can whip up a potent grease-busting solution using baking soda and vinegar. Pour boiling water down your drain. Then, pour a cup of baking soda along with a blend of 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vinegar. Follow with more boiling water a few minutes later. The combo of baking soda and vinegar will power through the grease clog, while the hot water helps wash away the oil.

But if the clogs are very severe and you have a lot of spent, solid grease in your sewage pipe, this fix might only be temporary. When you wash it down, the oil can accumulate and solidify again deeper in your pipes. For those tougher clogs, you'll want to bring in the heavy hitters. Baking soda will no longer do. Instead, you'll have to count on products specially made to break down fats and oils, like enzymatic drain cleaners. These cleaning agents will chow down on the fats and permanently reduce them into harmless goo that can be washed down to the sewer without contributing to more fatbergs!