How can I dispose of olive oil?

[minxy4425]

I found a full out-of-date bottle of olive oil in my cupboard and want to put the bottle into my recycling box, but what's the best way to get rid of the olive oil? Not sure if it's okay to pour it down the sink?!?

[naz_nomad]

how far out-of-date is it?

[joko]

you can use it for other things than eating -
add an essential oil to make a bath oil.
use it as a polish, for wood and plant leaves
put it on unvarnished wooden outdoor items as a protective barrier,
warm it and put it on your hair as a condtioning treatment

there are probably loads of other uses, try googling

[natalie_1982]

Don't know what you could use it for but I woldn#t pour it down the sink, I saw a documentary once about the poor guys who have to clean the deposited fat amongst the sewage and it is grim. I have a little area in my garden where I pour unwanted fat or oil.
Perhaps you could make a bird cake out of it if you added hard fat and some seeds?

[meltoadhall]

if its not too far out of dat I'd just use it.

[Ethel]

Natalie - what happens to the unwanted fat and oil you pour in your garden?

Doesn't it attract vermin?

[natalie_1982]

Nope, but then I live in the middle of a concrete housing estate and don't really get vermin. Or birds. Or butterflies....

Plus I have a rather large cat.

I've got this hole that I just pour it into. I don't think you are supposed to do that but I figured it was better than pouring it down a drain!

[Lewcee]

Do not bin it. Cook with it - its only the manufacturer's sell by date, so if in doubt, the cooking will sterilise anything not wholesome. If it has been sealed, there will be nothing off anyway. Back in the 60s, my inlaws ran a grocers, nothing was dated... nobody died!

[Alibobs]

I recently opened a tin of olive oil I bought in Crete in the nineties, it was fine

[2complicated]

You shouldn't pour it down the sink as it is. Pour a small amount into your rubbish bin, to be soaked up by the contents, then pour a good dollop of washing up liquid into the remaining oil, and shake well. The oil should turn white, which shows the oil molecules have broken down and it can safely poured away down the plug hole. This should be done with any oil, including baking trays after the Sunday roast, if anybody still has these apart from me?

[Ed Strong]

Just thought of another use - one that I've used - mix it with sea salt and make an excellent cheap body scrub. Depending on how much salt you use it's great for rubbing into the soles of your feet then soaking them in some warm water with bubble bath in it. Result - smooth, soft, sweet smelling tooties. :-)

[Kim A]

Don't tip it down your sink - it's illegal. You can be prosecuted under the Pollution of Watercourses Act (in theory, anyway). In general, I'd agree with other respondents who said use it up - sell and use by dates don't mean much anyway for a product of this sort. I go by smell, appearance and taste, as everyone used to before some nanny-ish quango decided we were all incapable of making even the smallest decisions about our own lives. As long as you've kept the oil reasonably cool it should be OK to use. Open it, tip a bit onto a spoon and taste it - you'll soon notice if it's rancid (which is probably the worst that can have happened). Other than that, if you decide not to eat it, your best bet is to take it to your local municipal tip for disposal - they usually have a cooking oil recycling section.
We dispose of our waste fat in a green cone in the garden (not a compost bin, this one digests food waste).

[WhistleStopCafe]

Any vegetable oil is biodegradable. For unused rancid or used cooking oil - pour it in an out of the way spot in the dirt

[bhg481]

Our local tip has a special place for vegetable oil and a separate one for used engine oil. I would sniff it and then use it but, if you're worried, use one of the other suggestions.

[fiction-factory]

14 years on from the original post the olive oil must have turned rancid by now