What is the Correct Way to Get Rid of Cooking Oils and Fats from Your Kitchen?
After using cooking oils and fats, you should know how difficult it is to remove the grease afterwards. What do you do with your oily, greasy waste after you're done? Do you pour it down the kitchen sink or into your kitchen bin directly?
Because of the costs involved, forgetting to dispose of cooking oils correctly can result in irreversible damage and expensive clean-ups. Used cooking oils and fats poured down sinks is one of the main things causing blockages in drains. Blocked drains or sewer systems can cause major issues for wildlife and watercourses, even worse they can result in environmental problems.
Homeowners often attempt to dispose of used cooking oil by dumping it down the drain. This article will explain how to correctly dispose of cooking oil so that harmful toxic waste isn't contaminating our environment.
Please do not pour it down your sink!
Properly recycling of waste fats and oils can significantly benefit the local authorities and water companies that usually have to deal with the clean-up operations. Pouring waste oils and fats down the plughole is the one of the things usually seen when homeowners try to get rid of them.
If you aren't careful, it could seriously impact your home's plumbing. If you are forever pouring fat and grease down your sink it will congregate within the pipework, covering their interior walls and eventually blocking them. Globules of oil and cooking fats can sit in the "trap" (of the plumbing), blocking it, which is intended to prevent bad smells from coming back up into your property. If the trap becomes congealed with fat, it will cause bad odours on its own.
If the oils and fats from cooking build up, they can cause plumbing problems. You may have to call a plumber if you don't know how to fix it yourself.
If you pour your used cooking oils and fats down the drain, they can easily get into our wastewater system through your home's sewer. While a small amount of oil may not seem significant, if each house on your road does this. it becomes a problem quickly.
The accumulation of used cooking oils and fat can cause serious issues in the city's sewers. Oil acts as a "glue" and causes anything in the sewer to stick around. This sticky substance will cling to anything flowing through the drainage and sewer system. These build ups are commonly referred to as "Fat Bergs", the term is slightly comical because they look like icebergs.
Looking at a Fatberg will make you understand why it's important to dispose of cooking oils and fats correctly.
Thames Water wrote an article in an attempt to educate the public and show us what they deal with on a daily basis. This Fatberg weighs the same as 3 double decker buses.
If we don't dispose of used cooking oils and fats correctly the fatbergs can grow to epic proportions.
Households can also damage sewer lines in ways other than pouring fats and oils into drains
Other products common in every home can also cause huge issues, tampons & sanitary towels, kitchen paper, cleansing wipes, cotton wool balls and even used nappies can often work their way into the sewers from households. The main takeaway here is that waste needs to be properly disposed of regardless of what kind it is.
Is it helpful to pour boiling water down your sink?
This method is ineffective because pouring boiling water down the sink doesn't work. You may feel that pouring hot water down your kitchen sink or drain will help you in the short term, however it can solidify and cause problems way down in the pipe, sewers and drains.
Fats and oils are one of the most common causes of blocked sinks. When removing used cooking oils from the bottom of the sink, a homeowner should use soap to break down the fats and scrape out any congealed mess with paper towels.
Households can take action by doing things correctly
To dispose of used cooking fats correctly, pour it into the container designated for grease or put it in a jar and store it in your refrigerator until you can bring it out to the recycle bin. Containers such as jam jars or take away tubs are perfect for storing used fats from your cooking. Pour hot oils into this container and reseal it, then throw the container away without risk of contamination.
To dispose of used cooking oils and fats, use a strip of kitchen paper to remove the majority of the oil & fat from their surfaces as possible. This can be placed in your rubbish bin.
If you have a lot of used oils, consider taking them to your local recycling center, where they may have special places for discarded grease.
A more general resource on the effects of cooking oils and fats on the environment is available at the Thames Water blog, who are running a national scheme called "Bin it Don't Block It".
To Conclude
It's hard to recycle used cooking oils and fats properly at home, making it tempting to pour them down the kitchen sink. This can cause major problems with your plumbing and clogging up sinks. In addition, household cooking oils and fats can have harmful effects on the environment. Sewer systems may clog and if they make their way into rivers or streams, it could cause serious problems for wildlife.
It is important to dispose of cooking oils and fats responsibly: pour fats into a container with a lid, place the closed container in your household bin, or contact specialised recycling companies for help.
|
|
