HOUSEWIFE Leow Bee Cheang used to pour her used cooking oil straight down the kitchen sink.
Her husband would grumble that one day the pipes would choke and they would both pay dearly for it.
“He always told me it was wrong to pour the oil into the sink because it can clog the drain,” she said.
Leow, 55, said she did not think much about it until a friend told her about Seberang Perai City Council’s (MBSP) used cooking oil purchase programme.
“Since then I keep the oil in bottles and bring it here instead of throwing it away,” she said when met at MBSP headquarters in Bandar Perda, Bukit Mertajam.
Held on the third Monday of every month, the programme allows the public to sell used cooking oil at RM3 per kg.
From 2024 until January this year, 738 individuals sold 13,938.56kg of used cooking oil under the initiative, keeping the oil out of household drains and sewer system.
The collected oil is converted into various products including soap, biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
Seberang Perai mayor Datuk Baderul Amin Abdul Hamid said the response reflected growing awareness of proper waste disposal.
“In 2024, we recorded 415 sellers who sold 7,687kg.
“The highest collection was in October, when 120 individuals sold 2,782.7kg,” he said.
He said the momentum continued in 2025, with 287 individuals bringing in 5,476.86kg.
This year got off to a good start, with 36 individuals bringing in 774.7kg in January, he added.
Baderul said the programme gave residents a proper channel to dispose of used cooking oil instead of just discarding it.
Civil servant Rosli Saleh, 59, said the programme offered a practical way to protect the environment.
“Before this, many people within the community did not know what to do with used cooking oil.
“Now we collect and store it properly because we know it can be sold and recycled.”
He said the RM3 per kg payment was modest but encouraged people to change their habits.
Civil servant Norhafiza Ishak, 38, said she collected 16kg over the past eight months.
“With this programme, we just keep the used oil and send it here once a month,” she said, adding that she sometimes helped collect her neighbour’s used oil and send it to the collection centre.
Another housewife, Lim Lily, 62, said the initiative reinforced environmental awareness among young people.
“It’s better to bring it here,” she said.
