Be a Good Egg in the Kitchen this Easter and Think Before You Pour

06 April 2023

Clean Coasts and Uisce Éireann are urging you to be a good egg in the kitchen this Easter and help the environment in the process. Whether you’re the cook, baker, helper, or plate scraper, whatever your role in the kitchen this Easter, make sure to lead by egg-ample and Think Before You Pour fats, oils and greases down the sink!

Uisce Éireann confirmed that pouring fats, oils and greases down the sink is causing blocked sewers right across the country with approximately 200 call outs a week.

Clean Coasts and Uisce Éireann are calling on the public to take a simple step this Easter and use empty egg cartons to collect cooled fats, oils and greases before disposing of them into the general waste bin or (if it is small amounts), the curb side collected compost bin.

Fats, oils and greases may seem like liquid when poured down the sink, but they cool and harden as they travel along the pipes and can cause blockages in our homes, businesses, the public sewer network and wastewater treatment plants. They can even lead to overflows of sewage in our communities and pollution in rivers, on beaches and in the ocean. When fats, oils and greases combine with wipes and other sewage related litter such as hair, dental floss and sanitary products that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet, fatbergs can form. Uisce Éireann responded to approximately 10,000 customer notified blockages in 2022 alone. 

It's evident that people’s attitude to what is poured down the kitchen sink is improving. According to a survey conducted in 2022*, 30% of people are regularly pouring fats, oils and greases down the sink compared to 44% in 2018. This is a positive improvement but there is still more to be done.  

Speaking about the size and scale of the issue Donal Heaney, Operations Lead at Uisce Éireann said: “This Easter, in partnership with Clean Coasts, we are asking everyone to support the Think Before You Pour campaign and lead by egg-ample. Help reduce the number of wastewater blockages caused by fats, oils and grease and prevent sewage backing up into our homes, gardens or spilling into the local environment. We want to remind the public not to use their kitchen sink as a bin and to ‘Think before You Pour’. Let’s work together and keep our pipes free-flowing and environment clean.”

Speaking about the campaign, Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manager, Clean Coasts said: “This Easter, Clean Coasts are asking the public to take positive environmental actions to be green. One simple action that can be done in the home is to collect FOGs in an egg carton for the bin.”