New Law 2024: Time to sort your cooking fat!

Since 2006, it has been forbidden to pour cooking oil and fat down the drain, partly to reduce the load on sewage treatment plants and to prevent costly blockages and damage in the sewage system. Since January 2024, the law also states that all fats and cooking oils must be sorted and collected for recycling.

Four years ago, AF Bostäder launched a pilot project for the collection of cooking fat. Many sustainability-minded students requested the ability to manage their cooking fat, and the project was very successful. Over time, the project has expanded and in 2023, tenants collected a total of 1.3 tonnes of fat and oil! Collecting cooking fat has not only practical benefits; the fat is also used to produce biodiesel. The students’ collection equates to 1,430 litres of biodiesel and reduced carbon emissions by an impressive 3.8 tonnes. A big thank you to all of you for your commitment!

In line with the new law, and in collaboration with Lund’s sanitation department, we are now offering cooking fat collection in all student housing areas. Containers for fat collection are readily available at waste and bulky waste stations. Here, students will also find smart (and free) fat funnels that facilitate handling in the kitchen when the fat needs to be poured into PET bottles. We look forward to even greater amounts of cooking fat being collected and put to good use.

Here’s how you sort your cooking fat:

• Small amounts of fat from pots and pans should be wiped up with kitchen paper and disposed of in the brown food waste bag.
• Larger amounts of cooking fat and oils should be poured into a PET bottle and put in the fat collection bin at your waste station or bulky waste station. Using a fat funnel makes this easy.

More information about the fat collection can be found on our website.