The Dallas Green Zine

Cooking oil - including fats, grease, lard, etc. - are not good for the pipes in your house or for the environment. Even attempts to dilute the oil with hot water can still result in blocked pipes.

When cooking oil actually makes its way out of the pipes, there is the added risk of it getting into the ground and returning to our water system. Oil accumulation in streams can result in a light film on the water that interferes with the oxygenations necessary for fish and other life living there.

A recent report at CBS KTVT-TV offers these suggestions:

• After it has cooled, filter and freeze used cooking oil and reuse it for another meal.
• Small amounts of cooking oil, such as meat drippings, can be soaked up with a paper towel and thrown into the trash.
• After it has cooled, pour the used cooking oil into a sturdy closed-lid container, like a coffee can, and dispose of it in the trash. Another option is to slowly mix in kitty litter until all the oil is absorbed and can be placed in a garbage bag.

If you live in one of these cities, you can contact them about cooking oil recycling at the numbers below:

• Dallas Water Utilities at (214) 670-6749.
• Denton’s Home Chemical Collection program at (940) 349-8787.
• Fort Worth Environmental Collection Center at 817-871-5257
• Irving program for curbside pickup at 972-721-2232 or 972-721-2772.
• Mansfield Stormwater Mgmt cooking oil dropoff at 817-276-4240.
• Plano Household Hazardous Waste Collection Program at 972-769-4150.

If you live in another city, you can drop off used cooking oil at Biodiesel Industries, Inc. located at the City of Denton Landfill, Spencer at Mayhill Rd, between 7am - 5pm, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

For more information, refer to the KTVT article, This Thanksgiving, Please Don’t Feed the Storm Drain.

How do you get rid of tons of animal waste generated on a regular basis? Currently the Dallas Zoo has to pay $55,000 year to dispose of it at a landfill.

However, this Spring, the zoo may get the opportunity to pursue a cleaner, more efficient direction. It is considering a process that converts animal, paper, and yard waste into electric power.

Instead of transporting the waste to a landfill, the waste would be emptied into a gasifier located on the zoo grounds. The gasifier would convert waste into gas and water, and the gas would be used to power an electric generator. Between 4-6 tons of waste can convert into about 50 kilowats of electricity, which is enough to power 3 homes for 7 days a week.

The Zoo could see a 10% reduction in gas and electric bills, and the water by-product from the gasifier process would be used for landscaping. The plant would require $1 million to build.

Many zoos, like those in Denver, St. Louis, Toledo, and Toronto, recycle their materials through composting. The Denver Zoo goes as far as to sell its compost under the product name ‘ZOOP’ which is described as 100% natural, weed free, odor free, and containing no harmful pathogens. Other zoos, like the St. Louis Zoo include cooking oil and batteries among its recycling efforts.

Do you live in Plano and:

• cook often?
• plan to hold an event or festival barbecue that will generate a lot of fat?
• own or work at a restaurant that generates a lot of fat?

Plano has a Household Chemical Collection program that will pick up cooking oil from residents and donate it to Biodiesel industries.

Biodiesel Industries is the first renewable energy-powered plant producing biodiesel fuel in Texas. Last year, 1200 gallons of cooking oil was collected and reused as alternative fuel. The city has a vested interest in this; 59 of the city’s 700-800 municipal vehicles are using hybrid or alternative fuels.

Cooking oil has a negative impact on the environment when it’s simply dumped. If it’s poured down the drain, the oil eventually returns to outside water sources and can reappear in our drinking water. Oil in a container in your trash bin gets crushed in the trash compactor and that oil ends up in a landfill, where it too seeps into the soil and then into water sources.

You can contact the City of Plano’s Environmental Waste Services at 972-769-4150 year-round and they will come and pick it up at your residence or business. Make sure that you place the cooled oil in a rigid plastic container, label it ‘cooking oil’ and secure the container with a screw top lid.

For more information, see Plano Offers Free Collection of Turkey Fryer/Cooking Oil.

When we think about recycling, items of utility may quickly to mind… but this year’s Red Bull Art of The Can exhibit shows another aspect of recycling. Each year since 1997, a call has been sent out for art created using Red Bull cans. Work is judged based on the overall idea, how well the piece translates the idea, and how well the piece has been constructed.

This year, First prize went to Evans Willeto for Ready to Fly, Second prize went to Scott Derrick for Reaching for the Edge, and Third prize went to Alexa Pederson for El Toro Rojo.

 Willeto, Pederson, and Derrick

There were lots of interesting entries… Gentlemen, Start Your Engines took nearly 500 cans and 70 hours to construct.

Amy Hawkes’ Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

Arthur Porter’s Red Bull Batwing Chaps

Heather Myers’ The Red Eye of the Storm

This year’s Red Bull Exhibit runs until November 5th at Southside on Lamar, which is just two blocks south of the Dallas Convention Center. Southside on Lamar is itself ‘recycled.’ Having been a former Sears Catalog Distribution Center in 1912, the upper floors have been remodeled into lofts, while the lower area features space for exhibits and shopping.

If you get hungry after the exhibit, stop across the street at Amuse. A friend and I stopped there for Sunday brunch and enjoyed Mexican fritata, breakfast tacos, and Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee. They also have an excellent brown salsa made with fire toasted tomatoes, basil, and olive oil.

Not sure about what can be recycled in your town? Recycling in Your City lets you select your city and click on Go.
If you need to dispose of hazardous waste, this Green Living link provides a city-by-city listing.