This event is held each year on the day after Thanksgiving to remind people on how to properly dispose of used cooking grease. Ordinary kitchen cooking grease build up can clog sewer pipes, reduce sewage flow and act as a magnet for other debris. Eventually this build-up can clog lines and result in Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO).

To avoid a grease-related SSO please do not pour used cooking grease down the drain. After cooking with grease or oils, allow them to cool and pour them into a can or a jar. Wipe grease from pots, pans, and plates with a paper towel before washing them. Both the greasy paper towels and the can or jar be safely discarded in your trash. By following these simple rules you can do your part to save our sewers.

The used cooking oil will be recycled into biodiesel, which is a cleaner burning fuel for the environment.

The 2011 event collected over 4,653 pounds of used cooking oil. More than 18,353 pounds of used cooking oil has been collected since the program began in 2005.

Please bring your used cooking oil on the Day-After-Thanksgiving to one of the four grease collection locations listed below:

This year’s drop-off sites include:

East – O’Reilly Chevrolet                                 Midtown – Ward 3

6160 E. Broadway Blvd.                                           1510 E. Grant Road

One block west of Wilmot Road                           Between Vine & Cherry Ave.

Northwest – Pima County                              South – City of Tucson, Water Plant #2

5025 W. Ina Rd.                                                         1102 W. Irvington Road

¼ mile west of I-10                                                   I-19, exit west on Irvington Road

The closure includes landfills in Sahuarita and Ajo, the Tangerine Landfill and the Catalina and Ryan Field Transfer Stations.

The Solid Waste Administrative office on Ina Road also will be closed on Thursday.  For more on the closures please call (520) 243-7400 or go to www.deq.pima.gov.