East Texas plumbing experts advise of proper disposal for fats, grease, oils this holiday

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - While the holidays are a great time to cook with family, it’s best to be mindful of cooking oils and grease going down the drain.

“Around the holidays we do get a lot of extra calls on kitchen sink stoppages,” said Lori Townsend, vice president of The American Plumbing Company in Tyler.

Townsend said pipes are only meant for liquids and not grease.

“They’re not made to collect grease and your pipe that is maybe this big, grease is gonna build up and your pipe is gonna get smaller and smaller and smaller and your hole for drainage is eventually going to clog up,” said Townsend.

Townsend said grease build up over time can lead to an entire pipe replacement which could cost up to thousands of dollars.

“Not only can pouring grease down the drain clog your pipe, but it could possibly affect your neighborhood and community,” said Helen Dulac, public education manager for the North Texas Municipal Water District Services.

“A little bit of fats, oils and greases from all of your neighbors all the neighborhoods in your cities and your towns they are collecting in that sewer pipe. So you could get a really big clog in one of the really big sewer pipes and that could cause a backup in your neighborhood,” said Dulac.

Just like in Tyler, the North Texas Municipal Water District Services supplies drinking water from lakes.

“The last thing we want to do is to add any more stress or pollution to our water sources,” said Dulac.

Dulac said that this could be a potential health hazard if enough contaminated particles enter a storm drain which is then transferred to a creek, stream or lake.

“So what should you do with it if you have a situation like this the best thing to do is scrape that grease off and out it into your trash or put it into some sort of container and throw it away,” said Dulac.

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