If your Thanksgiving and other holiday plans include deep-frying a turkey – or anything else delicious – Hillsborough County has just the place to take cooking oil that has passed its useful life.

The Public Utilities Department’s Cooking Oil Recycling Effort (CORE) offers residents a convenient way to recycle their used cooking oil. Free cooking oil jugs are available from cabinets located in select County collection areas. Used, cooled cooking oil can be stored in the jugs or other sturdy, spill-proof, non-breakable containers, capped securely, and taken to one of the brightly-colored CORE collection cabinets located at:

• Northwest Customer Service Center, 15610 Premiere Drive in Tampa
• Northlakes Recreation Center, 2640 Lakeview Drive in Tampa
• Woodlake Park, 9207 Woodlake Blvd. in Town ‘N Country
• Town ‘N Country Pump Station, 5505 Town ‘N Country Blvd. in Tampa
• Brandon Support and Operations Complex, 332 N. Falkenburg Road in Tampa
• Covington Gardens Pump Station, 6505 Covington Gardens Drive in Apollo Beach

Used cooking oil is a serious problem for residential plumbing and Hillsborough County’s wastewater collection system. When cooking oil is poured down the drain, it gels and solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes, sewage pipelines, and sewage lift stations. The congealed oil can constrict water flow and cause plumbing backups. Running hot water down the sink does not help because the water eventually cools.

CORE is for residential cooking oil disposal only. The County’s three Household Hazardous Waste collection centers also accept cooking oil, at no charge, during designated monthly collection times. For more information on cooking oil recycling opportunities, visit http://www.HillsboroughCounty.org/CORE or contact the CORE staff at GotGrease@HillsboroughCounty.org.

There will be no garbage collection service on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27th.  Regular service will resume on our next scheduled collection day.

• Garbage Pick up: Monday & Thursday
• Recycling Pick up: Monday
• Yard Waste Pick up: Thursday

Other Important Reminders:

• Three-Foot Rule – At the curb, place the carts at least 3 feet away from other carts, mailboxes, cars, trees, shrubs, fire hydrants and utility poles.
• Everything Must Fit Inside The Carts – Items left outside the carts cannot be picked up by the mechanical arm on a collection vehicle and will not be picked up.
• Garbage, recyclables, and yard waste should be placed out no later than 6:00 AM on  collection days.  Carts are required to be kept out of sight on non-collection days.

It’s time to turn the clocks back one hour on Sunday, Nov. 2, and remember to test home safety devices and reset sprinkler system timers, too.

Sunday marks the end of Daylight Saving Time and is a great time to install fresh batteries and test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. When functional, these devices can double a family’s chance of surviving a home fire or an unsafe carbon monoxide level.

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Residents of unincorporated Hillsborough County are getting expanded opportunities for household paint disposal. Starting Nov. 1, limited quantities of household paint will be accepted at all four of the County’s Community Collection Centers, in addition to the existing select Saturday Household Hazardous Waste collections.

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