Turkey Oil Drive at Prairie State Aims to Turn Waste into Fuel

With the growing trend of deep frying turkeys for Thanksgiving, the Sustainability Center at is conducting a vegetable oil collection drive to help dispose of the leftover cooking oil in an environmentally sound way by converting it into biodiesel.

The drive will be held from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 1, on the PSC campus, located at 202 S. Halsted St. in Chicago Heights. The drop off point will be in Parking Lot C, off of Vollmer Road, and will be marked with an oil collection drive sign.

Donors can bring used oil of any age or use, as long as it is delivered in a sealed container. In return for bringing in the oil and while supplies last, each donor will receive a free bottle of soap– a byproduct of the biodiesel conversion process.  

“It’s a challenge for people to figure out what to do with all that oil left over from frying a turkey, and we’re happy to provide an easy way to get rid of it, and allow it to be converted to biodiesel which will be used to run a vehicle,” said Beth Koprowski, sustainability coordinator at PSC.

For more information, contact Koprowski at (708) 709-7950 or bkoprowski@prairiestate.edu.

-Contributed by Prairie State College