Everyone* Pours Bacon Fat Down the Drain, Everyone Lies About It

[question everything]

(snip)

Despite years of campaigns by public-works departments and health organizations, cities haven’t been able to stop people from pouring grease down the drain, resulting in catastrophic buildups of sludge in sewer systems.

When poured down the drain, the fat coats the sides of the water line, gradually building up and narrowing pipes. Grease that doesn’t stick to residential pipes eventually makes its way to the city sewer system, where it can accumulate to form massive blockages. Clogs have gotten so big that workers have to use shovels to get the fat out.

London officials had to excavate a 130-ton “fatberg” from the Whitechapel sewer last year. The monstrous glob was the size of 11 double-decker buses and consisted mostly of grease runoff and trash. In Baltimore, officials last year had to scrape out a 24-inch pipe in midtown where grease had congealed, clogging 85% of the pipe.

After noticing that there had been some overflows around the city center, the public-works department sent a camera down and discovered a 20-foot long buildup of fat, according to Jeffrey Raymond, chief of communications at the Baltimore Department of Public Works. “It was really pretty shocking,” he said.

In 2017, Roto-Rooter plumbers unclogged almost 211,000 residential kitchen sinks, caused by a variety of reasons, costing American homeowners over $30 million. What’s making things worse is bacon is having a revival. Consumption has skyrocketed as chefs and home cooks add the pork product to everything from doughnuts to vodka to gumballs. That means there is more opportunity for misdeeds.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/everyone-pours-bacon-fat-down-the-drain-everyone-lies-about-it-1533741026 (paid subscription)

[donkeypoofed]

1. I NEVER do that ! Bacon fat is liquid gold !

Too good to be wasted. I use it like an oil. And if I have something I need to get in my dog (like a pill), I coat it in bacon fat and voila, she eats it!

Although that lard ball sounds truly disgusting. We have composting programs now so people should at least be doing that!

[pnwest]

8. I'm with you! Precious commodity!

[lamsmy]

13. Exactly - wonderful for cooking

While still warm pour into tin with plastic lid. Let cool , cover with lid and refrigerate.

Makes the best roast potatoes ever!

Even my kids know to do this.

Then, if you have too much, it is already contained and can be thrown away in a semi-solid state in a sealed container.

[Laffy Kat]

2. I do what my mother always did.

Pour it in an empty coffee can and store it in the fridge. Mom would cook with it but I don't. Nowadays I take it to the recycle place in Boulder. It can take years to get a full coffee can, so I don't have to do it very often.

[pansypoo53219]

14. science. the ONLY good cooking oils are butter or LARD.

so i use butter, but w/ use bacon fat. excess goes in garbage. never in sink.hell, butter is now being scraped off + put in my coffee. or cat can have it.

[flibbitygiblets]

3. Yet another reason not to eat bacon. It's dirty, inhumane, unhealthy and now..a public nuisance

[Major Nikon]

10. ...

[OnDoutside]

11. Hahaha.....It's morning here, you've put me in the mood for rashers ! 😁

[FSogol]

4. Not me. I soak it up with bread crusts and feed it to my crows.

They love me.

[procon]

5. Nope, no one in this house would ever pour any kind of grease or oil down a drain.

We've cut down on our use of cooking oil anyway, but we pour any leftovers into a resealable container and throw it away. Bacon fat is another story, that gets saved to be reused for cooking and in other recipes.

Those water treatment folks need a good information PR campaign to educate the public. A lot of people just don't have any cooking skills and they don't know that bacon fat has many uses. If people saw a way to save some money with tips about cooking with leftover bacon fat, and then some easy recipes to serve up something tasty, they'd be less likely to dump out their bacon grease.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I can vouch for how expensive it is to have plumbing "de-fatted"

We have a 60 year old house, our kitchen sink clogged, nothing worked, so called the plumber. they went under the house, opened the pipe, found about 60 years worth of thick grease.
apparently the cure was that they poured some chemical in all the pipe drains, let it sit overnight, house stunk to high heaven.
"Liquid Fire" he said. Worked on the shower and bathtub and bathroom drains, as well as kitchen.

Dumping grease down the sink has always been a no-no in my family.

[RainCaster]

7. We have a septic system, and we NEVER do that

After living here for 32 years, we have never pumped our tank because we are careful of what we put down the drain. Ours gets poured into our kitchen trash and makes it to the landfill.

[csziggy]

24. Yeah, in our old house we were told to pump out the septic every ten years

So ten years along we called a septic tank company and arranged for them to come out to pump out the system. The guy opened up the access port and asked how long we'd lived there - and was surprised when we told him. The tank was damn near dry and it had not been a dry year!

We haven't bothered since either in the old house or the new one.

We don't put grease down the drain, but all our organics go out in the field south of the house and the varmints get to clean them up.

[Solly Mack]

9. I like to let it cool and then wallow in it as a tribute.

Not really.

But it sounds messy and I sometimes like messy things.

[OnDoutside]

12. We soak bacon or any other fat up with kitchen paper, when still liquid and dispose of it

In the bin. I haven't put it down the sink in 40 years.

[Historic NY]

18. I do that along with other grease, we use to collect it

in coffee cans but it easier this way it gone. Some moron way up the street stuffed and entire roll of paper towels down a toilet. It end up in my neighbors lateral line backing up sewerage. Unfortunately we have a couple scumbag absentee landlords who rent their houses to anyone. town is constantly tagging them.

[OnDoutside]

20. That is unfortunate alright.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. Dear Lord.

I grew up on bacon and bacon fat and we NEVER poured it down the drain. It was saved and used in frying other stuff.

I'm genuinely appalled that anyone would ever pour any grease or fat down the drain. Ever. You pour it into a tin or jar that when full gets put into the garbage.

People are idiots.

Oh, and I LOVE bacon.

[rownesheck]

16. I don't pour it down the drain!

It may be gross, but i let it sit for like a day then wipe it out into the garbage.

[KayF]

17. I was surprised to hear that "bacon is having a revival"

I googled it but all the results are about a new tv show called "Tremors"

[kacekwl]

19. As I tell my wife

when you're the one unclogging the sink you would stop .

[PufPuf23]

21. Anyone on a septic system should know better than to put bacon grease down the drain.

I baby my septic and minimize what goes through garbage disposal. My bacon grease goes in compost pile. The compost tends to get stirred by critters whenever something tasty is added. Granted I live on a National Forest inholding so lots of critters (red fox, raccoons, spotted skunks, striped skunks, black bear, ring tailed cats, deer, and feral cats, all have enjoyed the compost). Also have a nice small vegetable garden to eat this time of year and fuss about for entertainment and fresh air (except for when there are forest fires like the last month). In the TMI department, I tend to pee in my yard to not over use the septic. I tend to only cook bacon once or twice a month max.

[smirkymonkey]

22. I don't.

I microwave my bacon on paper towels on a plate. Then I throw the paper towels in the trash. Nothing goes down the drain.

[yellowdogintexas]

23. always keep a bit in the refrigerator for certain cooking

sometimes I just have to have it in my greens, beans etc. Or to fry an egg now and then.

TIP Freeze it and wrap in plastic bag and put in the trash right before it goes out. This is great for chicken bones too

[Coventina]

25. I don't eat pigs, so my conscience is squeaky clean!

[Demovictory9]

29. me either

[House of Roberts]

26. Mix it into your used motor oil,

and the auto parts stores will take it off your hands for free!

[Kali]

27. not me

I don't waste bacon grease, no way I would pour it down the drain. valuable stuff, bacon grease.

[Demovictory9]

28. growing up in the 70s. southern raised parents, kept that stuff in a can for cooking other stuff

lol

[lunasun]

31. Chicago and no ancestors from the south but the same in an uncovered coffee can in fridge

Was yours stored out or refrigerated?

[Demovictory9]

32. it was kept on the stove mostly. Uncovered coffee can with the label removed

is there any other container for bacon grease?

[lunasun]

33. Thanks looking back I was just thinking- did it really need to be refrigerated? ...

Coffee can uncovered is all I ever knew of course some high falutins get this all fancy and covered hmft

[hibbing]

30. Kind of like what it does to your arteries n/t