For some families, a Thanksgiving turkey tradition involves a deep fryer and a lot of cooking oil. The end result is delicious. It can also be a mess to clean up, but the city of Mesa is expanding a holiday program to deal with that mess.

For the past three years, Mesa has provided residents a place to dump their old cooking oil. The recycling program was available to residents from Thanksgiving through the new year. Last year, 5,000 pounds of used grease was collected.

Now, that program will run year round. David Gonzales with the city of Mesa said Gilbert-based REV Biodiesel is the recipient of that old cooking oil.

"They take the grease and they separate the brown and yellow grease and they convert it into a biodiesel, which is then mixed in with diesel fuel," Gonzales said. "And then converted and refined into a fuel, which is then sold to anybody who would like to run this kind of fuel into their vehicles."

Gonzales said by encouraging residents to use the recycling containers, the city hopes to avoid potentially high clean-up costs. When grease is poured down drains or gutters, it can clog pipes or, worse, back up into homes or streets.