What is the best environmentally conscious way to get rid of used cooking oil?

Different methods have different benefits and detriments. Obviously the cleanest way in the short term is to consume it or process it into animal feed. However it can be used as a substitute for diesel (by simply adding a minute amount of white spirit) which in turn would mean that less heavy oil has to be extracted to keep combustion engines running. You may consider that to be a better way of disposing of it, that still results in adding CO2 to the atmosphere but it is CO2 that would be generated from burning diesel anyway so by using it as substitute fuel it does benefit the planet (by causing problems, but by causing slightly less problems).

Your recycling center should have a barrel for this. Used cooking oil is an excellent feedstock for biodiesel production, which is where most recycling centers send the oil.

Take it to a nearby recycling center. You can find the nearest one to your house by clicking on the link below, and entering "cooking oil" and your zip code.

http://earth911.com/

I was always told to poor it outside but I honestly cool the oil and throw it in the garbage

i throw mine in my (mostly) paper trash. if i had a burn barrel, i would burn it. don,t ever pour it in the kitchen drain.

Drink it