Top Prices Paid for Used Cooking Oil

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

There is a standard-sized billboard that sits back off of Highway 60 somewhere near Mountain Grove, Missouri, with this simple message:  "Top Prices Paid for Used Cooking Oil."   It is an older billboard that appears to have been produced on-the-cheap, probably made of three or four sheets of plywood and painted white with simple black lettering.   It has obviously been there for several years because saplings and brush are beginning to crowd in and obstruct the view.

I've noticed the big sign before but never paid it much mind.   Yesterday, however, being alone in the car and with nearly four hours of pondering time in my immediate future, I began trying to think of reasons why people would want to pay "top prices" for used cooking oil.  Could it clean oil stains off of driveways, or road tar from cars?  Would it rid trees of bagworms, or protect people from poison ivy?  Was it the key ingredient for hillbilly sex parties, or another MAGA cure for COVID?   What could there possibly be about used cooking oil that would merit "top prices"?

My enquiring mind wanted to know!

Just a brief bit of research revealed that there is a burgeoning market for used cooking oil, especially if that oil is plant-based:  soy, canola, sunflower, etc.  It is commonly referred to in the literature as "UCO" (used cooking oil), and its uses are many and varied.  The biggie is that UCO is used in biofuels, and biodiesel in particular.  But the slick stuff is also used as a household lubricant, furniture polish and conditioner (and is especially good on rattan and wicker furniture), and it makes a good preservative for leather furniture.

Other household uses for UCO include as a non-stick coating for pots and pans, as well as for garden implements like shovels and rakes.  UCO is also useful in removing tough road stains of various origins from vehicles.

UCO can be used to make soap and other products for personal grooming such as hair moisturizer and skin conditioner.   It is also apparently useful in removing paint from skin, with the advice being to rub UCO into hands or other areas with paint stains, let it set for five minutes, and then wash with soap and water for easy removal.  (My guess is that would probably work just as well with unused cooking oil!)

One article that I read suggested drizzling it over pet food to make it more tasty and ultimately improve the sheen on pet fur, and also mixing it with bird seed in the feeders as a nutrition supplement.

UCO is apparently also good - in small amounts - for compost piles.   It helps to attract worms to work the compost.

So while the small amounts of UCO that most households generate probably would not be enough to warrant a special collection tub for resale, having a modest supply on hand could serve many day-to-day purposes.  

And if a backlog develops, there is always the option of having one of those hillbilly sex parties!

Waste not, want not!