Please Pass the Plunger. How to Safely Dispose of Holiday Leftovers
(Hampton Roads, Va., Nov. 14, 2022) – What’s on your menu this Thanksgiving? A roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, a visit from the plumber? You can keep that last item off your holiday menu by keeping standing cooking oil, greasy leftovers and food scraps out of the kitchen drain and disposal.
“When grease goes down the drain in a liquid form, it will cool and adhere to the sides of the pipes, restricting the flow of water,” said Mike Martin, chief of pretreatment and pollution prevention with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD). “This can prevent other household waste from moving through the pipe, causing sewage backups in your home or a sanitary sewer overflow in the street.”
No one wants to deal with that situation on a family holiday, not even plumbers.
Martin says the local plumbing community refers to the day after Thanksgiving as Brown Friday—one of the busiest times for sewage backups. It can be pricey, too. If a backup occurs on a holiday, residents can expect to pay a premium.
“You won’t get as good a plumbing deal on Brown Friday, as you would shopping on Black Friday,” Martin said.
Martin recommends taking a few minutes to dispose of fats, oils and grease (FOG) properly:
· For standing grease, pour it into an empty can, let it harden in the freezer and then toss the can in the trash.
· For grease leftover from foods such as hamburger, allow it to cool in the pan, then use a paper towel to swipe and toss it in the trash.
· For dishes, scrape any leftovers into the trash or compost bin before washing.
To dispose of leftover turkey frying oil, Martin advised contacting your community for proper disposal locations.
Restaurant owners should adhere to the same guidelines. In addition, they should maintain and inspect grease control devices, dispose of fryer grease correctly and keep oil storage containers securely covered. Not only are sewer overflows and backups an inconvenience for Hampton Roads residents, but they also impact the environment by contaminating local waterways and harming wildlife and aquatic species.
That is a key concern for askHRgreen.org, a public awareness and education initiative backed by 17 Hampton Roads municipalities and HRSD.
“Keeping your drains FOG-free goes beyond the holiday season,” said Rebekah Eastep, an askHRgreen.org team leader. “These are practices we should be following year-round. It’s really everybody’s responsibility to do the right thing.”
About askHRgreen.org askHRgreen.org is your go-to resource for all things green in Hampton Roads – from recycling tips and pointers for keeping local waterways clean to water-saving ideas and simple steps to make local living easy on the environment. Launched in 2011, the region-wide public awareness and education campaign is administered through the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and powered by the following members: The cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg; the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Southampton, Surry and York; the town of Smithfield; and HRSD. Like askHRgreen.org on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram, tune in to YouTube and catch the “Let’s Talk Green” blog, written by a team of local experts.
Media Contacts:
Rebekah Eastep, HRPDC Senior Environmental Education Planner
(757) 420-8300; reastep@hrpdcva.gov
Elizabeth Evans, Red Chalk Studios
(757) 705-7153; elizabeth@redchalkstudios.com