Avoid a Visit from Santa Clog this Holiday Season! – Properly Dispose of Fats, Oils, and Grease – Can it! Scrape it! Trash it!
This holiday cooking season, the City of Sacramento’s Department of Utilities and the Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD) want to help residents avoid a visit from Santa Clog. As family and friends gather together and all the cooks assemble in the kitchen to prepare the holiday feast, it’s important to remember to properly dispose of clog-inducing fats, oils, and grease (FOG).
Whether you’re cooking a multi-course banquet or just baking a few holiday treats with your kids, keep FOG-containing foods from going down the drain. Meat scraps, baked goods, gravy, egg shells, mashed potatoes, and salad dressing are all harmful to your pipes and can lead to costly and messy sewer backups. FOG cools and solidifies in your pipes, which restricts flow and can eventually cause a clog. Instead of unwrapping presents and enjoying a delicious meal with your family and guests this holiday, you may be scrambling to Stop the Clog!
So while cleaning up after cooking, baking, or a family meal, always remember to follow these simple steps to minimize the amount of FOG in your sewer pipes:
- Can it. After they have cooled, pour fats, oils, and grease into a sturdy container, like a coffee can or jar.
- Scrape it. Before washing dishes, scrape all fats, oils, and grease residuals from pots, pans, and dishes.
- Trash it. Put all fats, oils, and grease in the garbage.
“The holidays are a time for families to come together over a home-cooked meal,” says Bill Busath, Interim Director of the City of Sacramento’s Department of Utilities. “By properly disposing of fats, oils, and grease, you can avoid the headache and expense of dealing with a sewer backup, and instead enjoy spending time with your family.”
For more tips about proper FOG disposal, visit www.sacramentofatfreedrains.com or www.stoptheclog.com. And remember, for sewer problems, call SASD 24 hours a day, seven days a week – even on holidays – at (916) 875-6730 or 311. We’ll help you figure out the next step.
The Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD) is a sewer utility providing service to more than one million residents and businesses in the Sacramento region, including the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County; the cities of Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova and Elk Grove; as well as portions of the cities of Folsom and Sacramento. SASD owns and operates thousands of miles of lower lateral and main line pipes and is responsible for the day-to-day operations and maintenance of these sewer pipes. Visit SacSewer for more information.