Cooking Oil Recycling
Keep Cooking Oil Out of Your Sink
Even if hot water is running and grease is liquid when it goes down the drain, cooking oils and fats solidify when they reach cold pipes. Cities and homeowners spend thousands of dollars on resulting sewer clogs. Garbage is for solid waste only so what’s a person to do?
Recycle your used cooking oil into biodiesel! Save your vegetable cooking oil in a container and bring it to a cooking oil recycling location or special event. Locations accept liquid, vegetable-based cooking oil only – no animal fats (ie those solid at room temperature).
Learn more about cooking oil recycling including what to do with animal fats here.
Thanks to a grant from the DuPage Foundation, SCARCE has been able to help communities establish permanent cooking oil collection sites. Contact us for more info.
Permanent Cooking Oil Collection Sites
717 East Jefferson St, Bensenville
Monday-Friday 7:30am-3:00pm
2710 Curtiss Street, Downers Grove
24 hour drop-off
945 Bemis Rd, Glen Ellyn
Monday-Friday 7:30am-3:30pm
156 Fort Hill Dr, Naperville
Saturdays & Sundays 9 AM - 2 PM (excluding holidays)
23W040 Poss St, Glen Ellyn
Monday-Friday 7am - 3pm
201 IL-83, Villa Park, IL 60181
*Entrance can only be accessed from NB IL Route 83
Monday - Friday 8 AM - 3 PM
Public Works Yard (south side of 821 W Liberty)
2nd Saturday of each month from 9 AM - Noon
1S649 Shaffner Rd, Wheaton
Monday-Friday 7:30am-3:00pm
30W575 Roosevelt Rd, West Chicago
Mondays (excluding holidays) 7am - 11am
7900 S. Route 53, Woodridge
TEMPORARILY CLOSED - during construction
Institute of Environmental Sustainability
6349 N. Kenmore Ave. Chicago
Monday - Saturday 9am-5pm
Wood Dale Public Works (south side of the building)
720 N Central Ave, Wood Dale
24 hour drop-off
4711 Indiana Ave, Lisle
Monday-Friday 8:30am - 4pm
Download the Eco-Cheat Sheet PDF from the sidebar on the left for a hard copy of this info as well as SCARCE collections, household hazardous waste info, and medicine disposal drop-offs.
Annual Cooking Oil Collection Day – Thanksgiving Weekend
To make cooking oil recycling more convenient for residents, each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving additional temporary drop-off locations are available for liquid cooking oil. If you’re frying a turkey – or anything else – please bring liquid cooking oil (vegetable-based only, no bacon fat or other solid animal fats) in a container to one of the participating locations. Containers will not be returned so be sure to bring one you don’t mind leaving behind. More info & View locations
2023 Pop-Up Sites:
- Addison: SCARCE, 800 S. Rohlwing Rd. Unit D 9am-noon
- Downers Grove: Sanitary Treatment Center, 2710 Curtiss St. 9 am-noon
- Glen Ellyn: Glenbard Wastewater Authority, 21W551 Bemis Rd, 9am-noon
- Elmhurst: Public Works Facility, 985 S Riverside Dr. 9 am-noon
- Naperville: Household Hazardous Waste Facility, 156 Fort Hill Dr, 9am-2pm
- Villa Park: Salt Creek Sanitary District (parking lot), 20 S. Rt 83, 9am-noon
- Wood Dale: Public Works Facility, 720 N Central Ave, 9am-noon
Get involved! Contact emily@scarce.org
Thank you to our recycling partner Green Grease Environmental.
Learn more with our resources below:
Cooking oil recycling with SCARCE Founder, Kay McKeen, on WDCB Weekly – Nov 2020