In a preventative initiative to promote the use of organic green bins, the City of Airdrie is reminding residents fats, oils and grease (FOG) poured down the drain can cause clogging along the sanitary sewer infrastructure.
Glenn Archer, team leader of Water Services with the City of Airdrie, said bacon grease might go down the drain as a liquid but will quickly become a solid.
“It sticks to the pipe and starts to build up,” he said. “Other solids attach to it, so then it becomes like a domino effect.”
If clogged on the homeowner’s side of the line – which goes from the house to the curb – Archer said a sewer backup could occur and potentially cost the homeowner $500 to clear the blockage plus whatever cost is required to repair water damages.
If FOG makes it past the homeowner’s side of the line and solidifies in the City’s main, he said it could cause performance issues, a higher cost for infrastructure cleaning and the potential for multiple household sewer backups.
“That’s certainly something people need to be aware of because it can be quite expensive and quite nasty,” Archer said.
To avoid these clogs, he encourages residents solidify FOG in a container and wipe the hardened material into the green curbside organic recycling bins.
From there, instead of going into a landfill or causing clogs in sewer infrastructure, Archer said FOG is processed with other organic material and is reused as fertilizer and organic soil for planting.
“It’s good for the environment and it’s good for the City infrastructure,” he said. “Ultimately, if it’s less expensive for us to clean (infrastructure) then that’s reflective on utility bills.”
Susan Grimm, team leader of Waste and Recycling with the City of Airdrie, said since implementing curbside organic recycling in spring 2014, 4,005 metric tons of waste was diverted from the landfill in 2015 and about 1,996 metric tons has been diverted in 2016 as of the end of June.
She said it is often the grease from large turkey fryers that makes its way down the drain and into the sanitary sewer infrastructure.
“It’s the stuff that doesn’t solidify that people might be not as apt to put in their organics container,” she said.
To address this problem, Grimm said the Eastside Recycling Depot recently opened a collection point for used oils and fats.
With technological advancements constantly shifting the field of waste and recycling, she said items thrown into the landfills today could look very different 20 years from now.
“Year over year they’re finding new and innovative ways to recycle all kinds of things,” Grimm said. “It’s ever changing, for sure.”
