Before you throw that leftover turkey grease down the sink, don’t.
“Any time you pour any kind of grease, fats or oils, it goes down into the sewer pipe underneath your house where it cools and hardens,” said Jacie Lewis with the Irving Water Utilities Department. “So when it cools and hardens, it can potentially cause blockages in the flow in the sewer mains.”
Instead, she said, those oils and fats can be recycled into biodiesel. Irving is one of nearly 40 cities across North Texas participating in a holiday grease roundup through mid-January, part of the North Central Texas Council of Government’s “Defend Your Drains” initiative.
Lewis said Irving often sees an increase in sewer overflows during the holiday season. She said people can help prevent them by being vigilant about what goes down the drain.
“Around the holidays especially, it's important to be mindful about what is going down your kitchen sink,” she said. “You want to always make sure anything that is not water you're putting into the trash. So all of your pots, pans, and plates you want to scrape off or wipe off with a paper towel into the trash first.”
Lewis said residents can collect grease in a sealed container and bring it to a designated dropoff spot to be recycled.