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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Olive oil is often used to condition soil, so it’s not bad to dump out if done correctly.
The FDA would prefer you didn’t though, mostly because you might not dump it correctly and it’ll end up in places it shouldn’t be.
Soil bacteria will most definitely handle it, most plant-based-oils can be done like this but if you “allow it” and everyone up/down your street starts dumping out used cooking oil into their backyards you’ll have an overall accumulation if say… they dump it out just before it rains (where it now ends up pretty much everywhere).
It’s a problem at scale, effectively.
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