Bacon Grease Down the Drain

Pouring bacon grease down the drain will clog your sink. It’s a fact, and we at Roto-Rooter have been warning homeowners of this fact since our company was founded in 1935. Somehow, the warnings have gone unheeded and we’re unclogging as many grease filled sink drains as ever, as The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out in this article entitled Everyone Pours Bacon Fat Down The Drain-And Lies About It. The article appeared in the paper’s August 9, 2018 edition.

WSJ reporter, Lara Korte, contacted Roto-Rooter’s corporate office to talk with us about the severity of the problem and to get some business information from us since we unclog more drains than any other company in the world. We explained to Ms. Korte that “In 2017, Roto-Rooter plumbers unclogged almost 211,000 residential kitchen sinks, caused by a variety of reasons, costing American homeowners over $30 million.” The article went on to say, “Sometimes homeowners will admit to knowingly dumping the grease in the sink, said Paul Abrams, public relations director at Roto-Rooter, one of the country’s largest plumbing businesses. “They feel a little embarrassed,” he said. “They know they made a mistake.”

The Journal spoke to several homeowners who admitted to pouring bacon grease down the drain and who are trying to change their ways. Furthermore, the Journal provided the following tips for those wondering what to do with bacon grease to avoid grease clogs:

• No matter what, first let it (bacon grease) cool
• Pour into a container and let it harden; re-use for cooking or throw in the trash
• Pour into a foil-lined bowl
• Let it harden, fold foil around the fat and throw in the trash
• Soak up smaller quantities with paper towels; throw in the trash
• Mix with bird seed (see recipes online) and let it harden; put it in a bird feeder
• Some people feed it to the dog – although there is debate about whether that is healthy

For more information from Roto-Rooter about avoiding sink clogs, check out this handy infographic titled, What Goes Down the Drain? Print it out and post it next to the sink for a few weeks until you’ve broken the habit of pouring grease down the drain.