Who doesn’t love fried foods? Behind their deliciousness, there’s cooking oil used to fry our favorite treats. Once used, this cooking oil, commonly known as minyak jelantah (used cooking oil), becomes a type of household waste. One of the challenges in handling minyak jelantah is how to dispose of it properly, as improper disposal can clog drains and harm the environment.

So, what’s the best way to dispose of used cooking oil? Read on, Warga Asri!

Proper Disposal of Used Cooking Oil

According to Taste of Home via Kompas.com, you can use disposable containers to discard used cooking oil. This method helps waste management teams separate liquid and solid waste, preventing the oil from mixing with other waste. Before disposing of it in a disposable container, you can also freeze the used oil first.

Laundry Soap from Used Cooking Oil

Believe it or not, used cooking oil still has many benefits after proper processing. According to zerowaste, used cooking oil can be turned into laundry soap by adding NaOH (sodium hydroxide), water, and fragrance.

Biofuel: Eco-Friendly Biodiesel and Aviation Fuel

Used cooking oil can also be converted into biodiesel, a renewable fuel. According to Traction Energy Asia, the Indonesian government launched the B30 program in 2020 to promote the use of Biofuels (BBN) through biodiesel as a substitute for diesel fuel.

Moreover, used cooking oil is an export commodity from Indonesia to the United States. It is further processed into green fuel sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

In 2023, five containers, or about 200 metric tons of used cooking oil collected through the Simijel Information System, were shipped to the U.S. This amount is expected to increase annually.

Exchange Used Cooking Oil for Money or Gold

Encouraging people to manage waste wisely, some private and government programs allow exchanging used cooking oil for money or gold.

For example, the Bandung City Government has a program called Beli Jelantah (Betah), where residents can exchange one kilogram of used cooking oil for around 3,000 rupiah in cash. Meanwhile, the Resik Becik Waste Bank in Semarang offers 0.02 grams of gold for every 1.5 liters of used cooking oil exchanged.

Wow, it turns out used cooking oil can bring many benefits if processed wisely! If you’ve been managing your used cooking oil properly, share your interesting stories and photos of your experiences in the #AksiAsri365 challenge! Let’s make Indonesia Asri together and don’t forget to share this info with your circle!