Clean Coasts and Uisce Éireann are warning households in Ireland not to put three things down the drain amid fears of ‘blocked sewers.’
Whether you’re the cook, baker, helper, or plate scraper, whatever your role in the kitchen, make sure you think before you pour fats, oils, and greases down the sink.
Uisce Éireann confirmed that pouring these three things down the kitchen drain is causing blocked sewers right across the country with approximately 200 call-outs each week.
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Both are now calling on the public to take a simple step this Easter and use empty egg cartons to collect cooled fats, oils, and greases before disposing of them into the general waste bin or (if it is small amounts), the curbside collected compost bin.
In a statement today, a spokesperson said: “Fats, oils and greases may seem like liquid when poured down the sink, but they cool and harden as they travel along the pipes and can cause blockages in our homes, businesses, the public sewer network and wastewater treatment plants.
“They can even lead to overflows of sewage in our communities and pollution in rivers, on beaches and in the ocean.
“When fats, oils and greases combine with wipes and other sewage related litter such as hair, dental floss and sanitary products that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet, fatbergs can form.
“Uisce Éireann responded to approximately 10,000 customers notified blockages in 2022 alone”.
Speaking about the size and scale of the issue Donal Heaney, Operations Lead at Uisce Éireann said: “This Easter, in partnership with Clean Coasts, we are asking everyone to support the Think Before You Pour campaign and lead by eggs-ample. Help reduce the number of wastewater blockages caused by fats, oils, and grease and prevent sewage from backing up into our homes, and gardens or spilling into the local environment. We want to remind the public not to use their kitchen sink as a bin and to ‘Think before You Pour’. Let’s work together and keep our pipes free-flowing and the environment clean.”
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