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Kitchen News
FESTIVE FATBERGS!
EXPERT WARNS AGAINST POURING CHRISTMAS DINNER DOWN THE DRAIN
As households prepare for a feast of turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and all the trimmings, one expert is raising the alarm to try and avoid an epidemic of festive fatbergs across the country.
Nancy Emery, cleaning expert at Tap Warehouse, explains: “It’s all too easy in the frenzy of a Christmas kitchen to discard of the cooking juices from dishes like the turkey, roast potatoes and pigs in blankets down the kitchen sink and some even opt to flush down the toilet, but this is going to cause real issues.
“Fat, oil and grease will quickly solidify when cooled so while it runs down the drain in your kitchen sink initially and seemingly disappears, underneath it is quite a different story. Once it cools, it sticks to the side of your drains and in the sewers forming a rock-like mass of waste. The trouble is that most of the waste that goes down the drain or toilet after will start to stick to this mass causing it to grow, and this is when blockages occur.
“This is when waste can back up and come out of the drains outside and even back up the toilet into your bathroom - it’s not a pretty sight. Blockages can be deep in the drainage system and not always accessible to clear yourself.
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“If a blockage does occur, you can use a sturdy rod like instrument to break up the fatberg but it’s likely you’ll need to roll your sleeves up and dig out the mass yourself to ensure it’s completely free of debris. A job no one wants to be doing on Boxing Day!
“Sometimes, the only way to clear this kind of blockage is to call a professional - and this is not going to be cheap around the festive period.
“The best solution is to avoid discarding anything non-biodegradable down the drain or toilet in the first place.”
Nancy has these top 5 tips to avoid a festive fatberg in your home this Christmas:
1. Make sure to scrape all plates into the bin to ensure that leftovers do not go down the drain. If you have a food waste bin then use this.
2. Let the fat and juices from your roasting trays cool completely before scraping it out and discarding it in the bin.
3. If you have a large amount of leftover cooking grease then you can make a DIY fat trap by simply pouring the cooled fat into an empty 2L milk bottle or any other suitable container with a lid. Once the bottle is full, simply discard it in the normal bin.
4. Use a kitchen towel or a cloth to wipe plates, dishes, frying pans and roasting trays before putting them in the dishwasher or washing them in the sink to catch oil and thick gravy residue before it goes down the drain.
5. Always use a sink strainer when washing dishes in the sink and then empty what you collect in the bin.
