Pollution Prevention at Home

Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG)

Not everything you may pour down the drain will make it to the Halifax Harbour.  Fats, Oils and Grease, also known as FOG, can stick to your home's sewer pipe eventually blocking the pipe and causing a household sewage backup as well as overflows and high costs to the home owner for clean up and restoration work.

Blockages in your sewer may also cause raw sewage to discharge onto your property, your neighbours property or into your home.  This can be a serious health hazard to the occupants of the home and may be a very costly problem.  Currently, within the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), the occurrence of grease build-up within our sewers has become an increasingly costly and time consuming problem.

Where does the household grease come from?

Most people know that household grease is a by-product of cooking.  Grease is generated from such things as:

• Meats
• Dairy products
• Sauces
• Butter/margarine
• Cooking oils and greases
• Shortening/lard
• Food scraps

Most of the grease is disposed of down the sink drain during food preparation and after meal clean up.  The grease enters the sewer pipes and sticks to the sides and roof of the pipes.  Over time the grease builds up to a point in which the pipe is entirely blocked off resulting in sewage backups and overflows onto your property or into your home.

If you have garbage disposal (garburator) you should also know they do not eliminate grease from entering and accumulating in the sewers.  These units only break up and introduce smaller particles of waste material into the sewer system.  Likewise, commercial additives and detergents that claim they dissolve grease may only pass FOG further down the system where it will cause problems in other areas of the sewer system.

What are the results of a sewer blockage from your home?

A sewer blockage caused by an accumulation of grease from your home may result in:

• Raw sewage overflowing into your home or a neighbours home, over your property, your neighbours properties, streets, local parks and into local water bodies.

• The cleanup of a sewage overflow can be expensive and unpleasant and often the cleanup must be paid by the owner.

• There is a potential for contact with disease causing bacteria.

• There is an increase operational and maintenance cost for HRM, which causes higher sewer bills to customers.

Tips To Reduce FOG:

• Never pour grease down the sink drains or toilets.

• Scrape grease and food scraps off your plates, utensils, pots, pans, food preparation area and cooking areas and place them in your green bin.

• Place a drain screen in your sink to catch food scraps and dispose of grease and food scraps in your green bin.

• Use disposable paper towels to wipe up grease and dispose of the paper towel in your green bin.

• Be consumer wise when using a commercial cleaner or detergent which claims to dissolve grease as they may only transport the problem further down the sewer system.