After cooking up their Thanksgiving feasts, Durangoans are being asked by the city to drop off the grease from their meals for recycling.
Grease and cooking oil congeals in city sewer pipes, and it leads to backed up pipes, Utilities Director Steve Salka said.
So much grease is put down the drain, the city’s 150 miles of sewer pipe are coated with it, he said.
It can also float to the top of the city sewage plant tanks where it has to be sucked up with a vactor truck. If left on the top of the tanks, the grease can disrupt the water-treatment process.
The city will use collected grease to make methane, which is used to generate electricity, he said.
Recycling grease will also cut down on a noticeable increase in grease the city sees around the holidays.
“If we could do this, and make our sewer system run more efficiently, in the long run it saves us money,” he said.
The campaign is modeled after recycling in Denver, Phoenix and other larger cities.
From a few ounces to several gallons of grease, the city will accept it.
“Anything they want to bring in, we want to take it,” Salka said.
Residents should let cooking oil and grease cool down, and put it in a leakproof container before delivering it to the city’s waste-water treatment plant.
The plant will accept peanut, vegetable, soy bean, canola, bacon grease, lard and corn oil for recycling.
City staff members will be collecting the oils from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in front of the Durango Wastewater Treatment Plant, 105 South Camino Del Rio. The city of Durango will accept the oil free of charge.
Visit durangogov.org/grease or call (970) 375-4801 for more information.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
