Celebrity chefs and well-known personalities encourage you to ‘Rethink the Sink’ this Easter

11 April 2022

Spring has sprung, bringing with it beautiful pastel colours, chocolate eggs, adorable chicks and long awaited reunions with family and friends over celebratory Easter dinners. This Easter, Clean Coasts in partnership with Uisce Éireann is partnering with Ireland’s celebrated chefs Kevin Dundon, Gina Daly, Lilly Higgins, JP McMahon, Edward Hayden, Guy Sinnott and Mark Murphy as well as well-known food blogger, Niamh O’Sullivan, to ask you to ‘Rethink the Sink’ and never pour fats, oils and greases (FOGs) from the Easter roast down the sink. Instead, collect FOGs into a heat proof container (egg cartons, tins and jars are egg-cellent choices!), allow them to cool and empty into the bin.

‘Think Before You Pour’ is operated by Clean Coasts in partnership with Uisce Éireann and appeals to the public not to pour FOGs down the kitchen sink, as a B&A survey reveals that approximately 4 out of 10 people admit to doing so.

FOGs may seem like liquid when poured, 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 and can even lead to overflows of sewage in our communities and pollution in rivers, on beaches and in the ocean. When FOGs combine with wipes and other sewage related litter such as hair and dental floss that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet, fatbergs can form. Uisce Éireann clears hundreds of blockages including fatbergs from the wastewater network every week.

Speaking about the campaign, Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manager, Clean Coasts said: “The prevention of blockages in our wastewater systems by fats, oils and greases is something everybody can engage in. Simply by being more conscious of our behaviour at the sink, and by making small changes, we can all have a positive impact on our natural environment. I would encourage and remind everyone to ‘Think Before You Pour’ this Easter.”

Tom Cuddy, Uisce Éireann’s Head of Operations added: “Uisce Éireann is delighted to be teaming up with Clean Coasts and chefs from all around Ireland for the ‘Rethink the Sink’ Easter campaign. Last year we responded to approximately 10,000 customer notified blockages along the wastewater network, which were leading to sewer overflows. Removing fatbergs and blockages from our public sewers and cleaning up sewer overflows is a dirty job with nasty consequences but so easy to prevent. We are reminding the public to ‘Think Before You Pour’ this Easter, not to use the kitchen sink as a bin and to help us safeguard the wastewater network and local environment by collecting cooled fats, oils and greases and disposing of them in their bin.”