Do you like the smell of sewage? We didn’t think so! Well, unless you want to have the “source” of that smell throughout your home, keep FOG out of your drain.
What is FOG?
Grease, fats, and oils from meats, butter, margarine, cooking oil, lard, dressings, food scraps, sauces, gravy and dairy products. Every day people pour these down the drain clogging up their pipes which eventually causes smelly, costly backups in their house and in the city’s sewer system.
Why is FOG a Problem?
When FOG goes down the drain, it hardens and causes sewer pipes to clog.  If this happens, there is a high risk of a sewer backup (overflow) where raw sewage actually backs up or “overflows” into your home, yard, neighborhood and streets.
Any substance that goes down your drain, from your bathtubs, sinks and toilets, flows through the sewer pipes in your home and when the wrong substances go down, pipes get clogged and everything that went down, comes back up…through your sink, bathtubs and toilets, into your home, lawn, street and anywhere else it can.
FOG In Pipes Can Result In…
- Raw sewage overflowing into your home, yard, streets, etc.
- An expensive and unpleasant cleanup that often has to be paid by the homeowner
- Property damage often not covered by homeowners insurance
- Potential contact with raw sewage, which could lead to illness and contamination
How to Dispose of FOG
DO
- Collect grease in a container and dispose of it in the trash (Request a FREE lid to secure leftover grease)
- Scrape excess grease and food scraps into the trash
- Keep strainers in your drain to catch food scraps and solids
- Use cat litter to absorb oil. Mix litter and oil, pour into bag and seal, then put in trash
DON’T
- Pour grease down the drain
- Use garbage disposal for grease or oily food scraps
- Rely on hot water and dish detergents, they do not dissolve grease
Garbage Disposals, Hot Water and Dish Detergents
- Garbage disposals DO NOT prevent grease from building up in your plumbing system. Garbage disposals only shred solid material into smaller pieces.
- Hot water and dish detergents only remove the grease from your plates, but the grease washes down the drain where it cools down and can build up into a clog.
From the Pan to the Can
To request a FREE Cease the Grease package, please send an email with your mailing address to msotero@roundrocktexas.gov. You must be a City of Round Rock resident as determined by your water bill.
