Cooking with fats, oils and grease?

If you’re cooking fats, oils and grease – such as butter, olive oil, gravy and meat fat – remember that how you dispose of them after use can make a big impact on your home’s sewer system.

Fats, oils and grease can clog sewer pipes if disposed of down the drain, such as through a sink or toilet. Doing this can cause a backup of sewage flooding into your home, your neighbours’ homes and onto streets – which can pollute the environment!

Follow these important disposal tips from the City of Vaughan:

• Fats, oils and grease should never go down the drain. Instead, let them cool and then place them in the green bin.
• If one of these materials is liquid, leave it in the pan to cool or pour it into a container such as a tin can or bowl to cool; then empty it into the green bin.
• Before washing pots, pans and dirty dishes, wait for fats, oils and grease to harden. Then, wipe the substance with a paper towel or scrape it into the green bin.
• Drop off leftover cooking oils in a tightly sealed container, no more than four litres in size, at a York Region waste depot for safe disposal. The Vaughan location is at 130 McCleary Crt. Visit york.ca/WasteDepots for hours of operation and more details.

For help safely disposing of other materials, use the City’s online ‘What Goes Where?’ sorting tool so you can quickly and easily check where a waste item belongs. You can also download the waste reduction app, Recycle Coach, through the Apple App Store or Google Play to check where waste items belong. The app provides waste-less tips and a personalized collection schedule with optional alerts on what to put to the curb each week. For more information on waste services, visit vaughan.ca/waste.

For information on the City’s sewer system, visit vaughan.ca/wastewater.

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