I read on SeattlePI.com last month that Seattle’s sewers are getting clogged with grease.

You know how doctors warn about too much cholesterol in your diet and how it can plug your arteries? That same phenomenon is wreaking havoc on Seattle’s underground sewer pipes. If some of those pipes were your arteries, you’d be having chest pains.

That can’t be good. The article also says that from January to October of last year, there were 147 grease-related sewer backup incidents in Seattle.

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice to never pour grease down the drain (Seattle actually has a law against this). And I bet, like me, you’ve ignored that at least a few times. But, according to the article, the backups don’t come just from people and businesses directly pouring grease down drains.

…there is another culprit that people often miss — the scraps on their dishes … if you don’t thoroughly scrape the grease and muck into the trash, it rinses off in a scalding dishwash and accumulates in the city’s pipes.

Uh oh. So what are we supposed to do about that? Well, apparently Seattle officials are trying to get people to avoid using garbage disposals.

I think they’re probably in for a fight on that one. Garbage disposals are pretty much part of the American Way.  We actually don’t have one, so it all goes into the garbage or compost.

But we don’t always scrape the dishes clean. We use the sprayer to get a lot of it off before they go into the dishwasher. So yes, the particles and grease are going down the drain.

That grease after your steak? Trouble. Sour cream from your nachos? Trouble. The butter and gravy left from your potatoes? More trouble.

At summer camp, we learned to use paper napkins to wipe the residue off the plates while scraping. Wait! Did I just say “paper napkins”? We hardly ever use those (or paper towels), because we’re being all green and using cloth instead!  And if we use the cloth napkins to wipe off the plates, well, then the grease is just going to go out through the washing machine.

Oy. So I’m still not sure what to do, besides wielding the rubber scraper extra-carefully.  We do save and use bacon grease.  And I drain other greases into cans and discard them.  But then I also usually rinse the ground beef with hot water — to get rid of the extra fat!

It’s a dilemma. Do you do anything special with these greasy messes? And no, I don’t want to become a vegan.

Pin it