As cooks gear up for the holiday season, Salisbury-Rowan Utilities has tips for discarding leftover Fats, Oils, Grease and Wax, also known as FOG. When FOG is poured or flushed down the drain it may not travel very far through your pipes. FOG will accumulate and stick to the pipe walls causing future sewer backups in your home, restaurant, or other buildings.

When FOG goes down the drain, it hardens and causes sewer pipes to clog. This can lead to sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) where raw sewage may back up into your home, lawn, neighborhood and streets. SSOs can cause health issues and sewer may even run into local water ways which can affect drinking water quality.

If your pipes become clogged, it can be a very expensive problem to fix. NEVER put FOG down the drain!

Here are a few tips:

• Allow grease and oil to cool.
• Can grease and then throw the can in the trash.
• Scrape food scraps in the trash.
• Don’t flush your FOG. Toilet pipes can get clogged too!