Castle Water is supporting Unblocktober 2021
Castle Water are proud to be supporting Unblocktober. The campaign is organised by Lanes Group PLC, the UK’s largest independent drainage contractor who specialise in drainage clearing and repairs.
- What is Unblocktober?
- New world, new habits
- What’s the problem with flushing fats, oils, and grease?
- How can you make a difference?
What is Unblocktober?
Unblocktober is an awareness month, that runs throughout October, to promote saving our sewers and seas. Every year millions of people across the UK dispose of substances and materials into the sewage and drainage systems, resulting in severe environmental damage.
The aim of the campaign is to educate people on how changing small daily habits can vastly improve the health of our drainage networks, sewers, and seas. This year’s campaign theme is “new world, new habits”.
New world, new habits
The last two years has seen a surge in the waste entering UK sewers and seas. The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused mental, physical, and environmental distress. In this new world, people were instructed to stay at home and work from home. But spending more time at home also means disposing of more waste from home.
The amount of plastic being flushed and drained into waterways drastically increased. Disposable facemasks and wet wipes were ending up in sewers and seas in quantities never seen before.
Clearly new habits must be adopted in order to live in this new world without producing environmental hazards.
What’s the problem with flushing fats, oils, and grease?
You may consider putting crumbs or pouring away fat and oil down the sink after cooking, a single innocent act. But imagine… millions of people disposing of plastic waste, grease, and food into the drainage systems. These small, and often oblivious, actions are amounting to something out of a horror story– fatbergs!
Have you heard of a ‘fatberg’?
Belowground inside our sewers the fats, oils, and grease (FOG) are forming into gigantic blockages called fatbergs. As disgusting as the name suggests, these are literally iceberg-like masses containing plastic and FOG. These blockages stop the wastewater from flowing inside sewers and cause backlogs.
To make matters worse, over 3000 UK homes are flooded every year as a result of fatbergs and FOG blockages. £90 million is therefore spent annually attempting to unblock fatbergs and clear sewers.
How can you make a difference?
Throughout October challenge yourself to change 3 simple habits:
stop pouring / flushing away the following items:
- Cooking oil or fat
- Food – yes that means crumbs too!
- Anything containing plastic or hidden plastic (including face masks & wet wipes)
That’s it! It’s as simple as that.
By incorporating these basic habits into your routine, you will help to make a drastic impact in the fight to save our sewers and seas.
More information about Unblocktober 2021, and to sign-up yourself, can be found here.
