So that I’m clear, I’m ***not*** thinking about pouring my used motor oil all over the yard. But I ***did*** think about pouring out a small jar of unused olive oil in the dirt. I’m 85 to 90 percent sure I’ve heard that’s a no-no, but I’m wondering why. What exactly happens when oil hits dirt? Shouldn’t the soil bacteria chew it up just like they chew up everything else organic? And would the same thing happen to crude oil?
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It’s not actually a bad thing, it’s more about to much of it can be a bad thing and it’s pretty easy to dump too much.
It’s also about wether or not you want to grow food in certain areas or not.
For example if you have old lead paint? It’s actually fairly safe to dump straight into the dirt, but you can’t plant any plants you want to eat there, BUT there are
Plants that actually use lead (amongst other heavy metals) to grow.
As for fatty oils and not motor oils, it’s more about how long it takes to break down compared to other organic materials. You CAN compost meat and oils and fats, but it just takes longer than the organic food waste that usually leafy greens or other food scraps and if you throw meat or oils into the compost heap, it won’t be broken down as fast as the leafy greens would be. (This is the same for things like avacado pits bones egg shells, etc)
Then you run into pests that like fatty oils or meats.
But yeah a jar of unused olive oil in your garden won’t do any harm, but if you do 5 jars daily that would be a problem.
the same can also be said if everyone did one jar everyday that would be a problem.
So basically it’s advised not to, and for things like motor oil it’s technically illegal, but the odd person doing it now and then it’s completely fine
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