RECYCLING oil and fat prevents sewer blockages and generates green energy – that is the message from a Coventry-based water supplier which is working with Warwickshire councillors to fight ‘fatbergs’.
Severn Trent is working with Warwickshire County Council (WCC) to stop people pouring fat down their kitchen sinks and help keep our sewers clear.
Millions of pounds of damage is caused each year by sewer flooding caused by blocked drains – and more than 75 per cent of these are the result of fats, oils and grease being poured down plugholes.
The council has now installed oil and fat recycling facilities at all of its recycling centres except Wellesbourne’s, which does not have enough space to accommodate them.
The waste is taken to a facility to be cleaned and reprocessed into an environmentally friendly bio-liquid that generates green power for homes and businesses.
Fighting fat – student Katrina Davey-Reid and Malcolm Smith from Severn Trent at a Warwickshire County Council oil and fat recycling station. (s)Malcolm Smith from Severn Trent said: “Many people might think it’s okay to pour leftover oil and grease down the sink after cooking – but they couldn’t be more wrong.
“As this liquid cools in the sewers it turns into solid chunks of fat which join together and often result in huge fatbergs that cause blockages.
“We offer all our customers a free ‘gunk pot’ that can be used for collecting oil and grease in their kitchen. Once these are full they can then be transferred to a larger container and then taken to be recycled at their local site.”
WCC environment spokesman Coun Jeff Clarke said: “With household waste cooking oil accepted at eight of the nine Warwickshire recycling centres, you are never too far from a local disposal point.
“Our oil is sent to a state-of-the-art recovery facility where it’s turned into bio fuel to generate carbon-neutral electricity for UK homes and businesses.”
Visit www.stwater.co.uk/gunkpot to order a free ‘gunk pot’.
