Cooking Oil Recycling Program

Recycling Cooking Oil Did you know that the city spends approximately $3.5 million dollars each year to unclog sewers? Home kitchens and commercial restaurants are the largest controllable sources of Food, Oil and Grease (FOG) in the City's sewer system. Most people at home don't produce very much used cooking fats, oils or grease. But - even a little grease from the many homes in the City add up to clogged sewers.

The San Francisco Household Hazardous Waste Facility accepts cooking oil in small quantities (up to 20 gallons per day per customer). Oil can be dropped off during our normal business hours when we are open to receive paint, solvents, and other household chemicals from San Francisco residents. The household hazardous waste facility is open from Thursday - Saturday 8 am - 4 pm, excluding holidays.

The oil is collected by SFGreasecycle, the City of San Francisco's Biofuel Program, and used to manufacture a cleaner-burning renewable fuel to use in MUNI buses, fire trucks and other city vehicles. For more information check out the City's biofuel website or call the SF Public Utilities Commission at 415-695-7366.

Recycling Cooking Oil Cooking Oil Disposal Requirements
Individual containers of cooking oil must be no larger than 5 gallons in size (i.e., no large drums). If you would like your container back, please ask staff to empty it while you wait. You do not need to prove that you reside in San Francisco to dispose of only cooking oil, but you do need to provide proof of residency if you bring any type of hazardous waste besides cooking oil.

Cooking oil should be in leak-proof containers secured with a tight lid. Please make sure your used cooking oil does not contain water, soapsuds, and/or food debris.

Solidified oil, such as lard or bacon grease, can be recycled at the facility or be placed into your green compost bin for collection and recycling. Please do not place liquid cooking oil in your green compost bin.

Recycling Cooking Oil for Businesses Cooking Oil Recycling for Businesses
Although the household hazardous waste facility is not normally available to businesses, we make an exception for cooking oil. We will accept up to 20 gallons of cooking oil from restaurants and other businesses. Besides helping to recover this valuable resource so it can be used as a bio-fuel, we also want to keep cooking oil out of the trash - where it makes a mess - and out of the drains where it clogs up the pipes in your building and the city sewers.

Please Note: We do not accept paint, solvents, or other types of chemicals from businesses. You may be eligible for the
Small Business Drop-Off program.