20/03/2008

A cartoon chimp is piping up this Easter to remind customers around the region that pouring grease down sinks and drains is monkey business.

A new leaflet featuring Chips, Northumbrian Water’s grease monkey, educates customers on how to dispose of fat properly and protect the environment.

Pouring hot or cold fat, oil and grease down a sink or drain can cause many problems. Grease solidifies in underground sewer pipes and can result in blockages. This can cause flooding and damage to both the inside and outside of customers’ properties.

Nearly one third of all sewer flooding is caused by fat and grease being poured down the sink. Grease can be found in many sources, including margarine, butter, cooking oil, meat fats, food scraps and sauces. 

Northumbrian Water spends large amounts of customers’ money removing grease from sewer pipes and large sewage treatment works. Cleaning grease at just one large sewage treatment works costs around £50,000 a year. Northumbrian Water has almost 450 sewage treatment works and 16,000km of sewers to maintain.

Chips the monkey said: “Customers who dispose of fats and grease down the sink drive me bananas! The sewerage system is designed to take what occurs naturally and toilet paper – it is not a waste disposal unit.

“As hot fat moves down a cold pipe it cools and sets on the pipe wall. This reduces the diameter of the pipe and increases the risk of blockage, which can cause flooding, unwanted odour problems and can also cause overflows into rivers and streams, endangering wildlife and polluting the natural environment.

“The correct way to dispose of fat and grease is to allow it to cool and put it into an old container or some newspaper and put it in the bin.”

A fun and environmentally-friendly way to dispose of unwanted fat this Easter and attract nature into the garden is to make bird cakes by mixing seeds, nuts, oatmeal or dried fruit into a pot of warm fat. Once the mixture has cooled, the cakes can be made and hung from a tree or bird table.

Copies of the leaflet, titled ‘Stop and think – keep your sink on a fat-free drink!’ can be requested by calling Northumbrian Water’s customer contact centre on 0845 717 1100. Further grease facts from Chips can be found at www.nwl.co.uk.

For further information please contact Leanne Clough on 0191 301 6733.

Monkey means business: tips for fat-free sinks!

• Flushing hot soapy water down the sink will not stop grease from blocking the sewer as the surrounding ground keeps the pipe cool and sets the grease.

• Detergents that claim to dissolve grease may pass the grease down the pipe, but it can still settle out elsewhere in the sewer network and still impact on a customer’s home.

• Plates and pans should be scraped or wiped before washing up to remove food and grease. Strainers in kitchen sink plug holes can help prevent waste food from getting into the waste pipe.