Chef Donal Skehan supports the Think Before You Pour campaign

01 April 2021

Clean Coasts and Uisce Éireann are delighted to announce that celebrity chef Donal Skehan is supporting this year’s Think Before You Pour Easter campaign. Think Before You Pour is a public awareness campaign run by Clean Coasts in partnership with Uisce Éireann. The campaign discourages the public from pouring Fats, Oils and Grease (FOGs) down the kitchen sink, as 1 in 3 people living in Ireland admit to doing so.

In the Easter video, launched on his social media pages, Donal shares the most environmentally friendly ways to dispose of your FOGs after cooking, such as pouring them into a reusable container like an empty egg carton or yoghurt pot, and then emptying into a food-waste bin. Donal reminds us how making small changes in our kitchens can prevent big problems in our wastewater systems and environment.

Although FOGs might seem like liquid when poured, once they cool along the wastewater pipes this can cause blockages in homes, the public wastewater network and at wastewater treatment plants. These blockages can lead to overflows of sewage that can damage the environment. When FOGs combine with wipes and other sanitary items that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet, fatbergs can form. This is seen daily in villages, towns and cities as Uisce Éireann clears thousands of fatbergs from the wastewater network every month.

If you have a food waste recycling service, small amounts of FOGs can be disposed of in the food waste recycling bin. FOGs can be placed into a homemade Gunkpot such as cardboard egg boxes and then placed in the food waste recycle bin. FOGs are not suitable for home composting.

Speaking about the campaign, Donal Skehan said: “Everyone cooking this Easter can have a positive impact on the environment directly from their own kitchen. I'm delighted to join the Think Before You Pour campaign in sharing environmentally friendly tips on disposing of your fats, oils and greases. Fatbergs begin in the kitchen, so always have a reusable container on hand to catch your FOGs, and never pour them down the sink."

Tom Cuddy, Uisce Éireann’s Head of Asset Operations, said: “Uisce Éireann is delighted to be teaming up with Clean Coasts and Donal Skehan for this year’s Think Before You Pour Easter campaign. We remove thousands of fatbergs and blockages from our public sewers every year. We are reminding people not to use the kitchen sink as a bin and to help us to safeguard the wastewater network and the environment by collecting cooled FOGs and disposing of them in their food bin.”

Speaking about the campaign, Sinead McCoy, 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.”

As part of the Easter campaign, Clean Coasts and Uisce Éireann will be giving away a GunkPot as well as a Donal Skehan cookbook. To be in with a chance to win, go to: www.thinkbeforeyoupour.org to enter.

To find out more about the Think Before You Pour campaign please visit http://thinkbeforeyoupour.org/.