Warning not to 'be a drain' this Christmas and don't pour oil and fat down the sink

Environmental charities are reminding people not to 'be a drain' this Christmas and make sure they keep left over oil and fat away from the sink.

It is estimated nearly three quarters off all drain blockages are caused by 'unflushable' items being put down sinks and drains.

Now, the charity Love My Beach has issued a rallying call to people rustling up their festive lunches to make sure they either throw away or recycle their used oil and fats.

Hannah Barnes, from the charity, said:

"You should scrape or pour your leftover fats from your roasting tins into a heat resistant container or recycle it once it's cooled.

"If you're using a frying pan, wipe out the grease with kitchen roll before you wash them. Even a little bit going down the drain can cause part of a wider problem.

"You couldn't imaging melting a pack of 25 butters straight into the drain so why would you do that over the course of a year?

"Why would you tip your juices from a roast turkey straight down the plug? When you put it like that it doesn't seem like such a big ask to get people to dispose of things more carefully.

"Fats and oils can harden when they go down the plug and into the drain, so when they mix with other items that have got into the pipes, they can cause a fatberg.

"The ones in London were the size of a bus, but there are around 350,000 pipe blockages every year and most of them are caused by things going down the drain.

"Say there's a sewage spill that ends up in the river, it can cause problems for the fish and birds that feed on the fish and with those rivers moving to the sea, there can be problems if you go swimming in the sea, you can end up with intestinal problems, vomiting and it's really just something we want to avoid."

For more information, visit: http://lovemybeach.org/avoid-a-fatberg-this-christmas/