It’s a wonderful time of year, and some of our most beloved holiday traditions involve delicious homemade meals.
Unfortunately, many of these rich dishes generate grease, oils, and fatty waste. When washed down the drain, these fats harden along the walls of sewer pipes, narrowing their capacity. These fat-lined sewer systems clog easily during winter storms, causing sewage overflows onto streets, down storm drains, and into the Bay.
Sewage overflows happen every holiday season, and this year, the increased frequency of home cooking due to the pandemic may lead to even more clogged systems around the Bay Area. So let’s all help stop this particular Thanksgiving tradition.
After cooking, find creative ways to reuse your oils. Or pour the leftover oil and grease into a container with a lid and dispose of it in the trash. You can use a paper towel to wipe down the pan or pot so less grease goes down the drain and then wash as usual. Keeping large amounts of fats out of our pipes will make for a happier holiday celebration!
Click here to protect your pipes from fats, oils, and grease and find recommendations for where to dispose of large amounts of cooking oil.
Photo by Shane Huang, Flickr/CC
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