Cooking big holiday meals? The City’s Department of Utilities is reminding Sacramento residents how important it is to properly dispose of cooking fat, oil, and grease.
Many holiday dishes, including turkeys and hams, produce large amounts of fat, oil and grease that can cause clogs and sewer backups if poured down the drain.
“When fats, oils, or grease are disposed of down a drain, they don’t break down. Instead, they harden and can create nasty clogs,” said Michael Fontana, an engineer with the Department who specializes in sewer spills and blockages. “This can lead to sewage overflows or back ups and can take hours or even days to clear.”
Fontana says these clogs can be costly for residents or even harmful for City sewer systems.
There are four easy steps to avoiding clogs:
- Pour liquid fat, oil and grease into a disposable container.
- Scrape any remaining residue from your pots and pans into the container.
- Seal the container and wait for the contents to cool.
- Throw it in the trash.
City staff are also reminding people that cooked and raw food waste, such as turkey leftovers and vegetable peels, can be placed in a City organic waste bin.
