Thanks to a partnership with Port St. Lucie Utility Systems, Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful, and St. Lucie County, residents now have the opportunity to properly dispose of their household cooking oil and grease. On March 14 and October 24, 2020, residents can bring their used cooking oil and grease in containers 5 gallons or less, to the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day event held from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Public Works Complex located at 450 SW Thornhill Drive.

Cooking Oil refers to vegetable, corn, peanut, olive, coconut, etc.

Grease refers to lard, butter, shortening, bacon grease, etc.

By adding cooking oil and grease collection to this annual event, residents are helping to maintain the integrity of the City’s vast wastewater system, which includes over 1,000 miles of sewer pipe. When household cooking oil and grease enter pipes, it cools and forms blockages, which prevent wastewater from flowing efficiently. It builds up over time and collects other flushed debris like wipes, medicine, and plastic products. The clogs create backups in your home and can damage infrastructure, and ultimately, wastewater cannot be properly processed and treated to make reuse. Reuse is highly treated wastewater used for the irrigation of golf courses and community green spaces, which reduces the demands on drinking water supplies.

The cooking oil and grease dropped off will be collected by Greenwave/OilMatic and recycled into biofuel.

In addition to the collection events, the St. Lucie Baling & Recycling Facility is now accepting used household cooking oil and grease from residents free of charge for recycling. 

Residents can bring cooking oil and grease to the facility, located at 6120 Glades Cut Off Road in Fort Pierce, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Upon entering the facility, residents should drive straight ahead to the Scale House, pull up on the scale closest to the building, let the operator know what items they are dropping off and the operator will direct them.  A Solid Waste staff member will meet them to receive the used cooking oil, which will be deposited into a collection container. When the container is full, it will be collected by Greenwave/OilMatic and recycled into biofuel.

Cooking Oil Acceptance Guidelines:

• No containers larger than 5 gallons will be accepted. 
• Use a clean container and do not mix anything other than cooking oil and grease from cooking in a container.  
• Remove chunks of food/bones.
• Containers must be labeled as “cooking oil” before dropping them off.
• Residents should be prepared to leave their container of cooking oil.   

Learn more about properly disposing of household cooking oil and grease.

For more information, contact:
Jenny Tomes
Utility Marketing and Digital Video Coordinator
(772) 871-5131
jtomes@cityofpsl.com