How Do Oil and Grease Affect the Environment?

March 3, 2022

Here at Safeway Used Oil and Grease, we specialize in the safe and environmentally friendly removal and recycling of fats, oils and grease (FOGs). It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it! But what is oil and grease pollution? This post will help answer this question and teach you how to ensure FOGs from your kitchen don’t end up harming the environment.

Why are FOGs such a problem?

Let’s start by covering why dumping FOGs down the kitchen sink is such an issue. In addition to being toxic to wildlife, FOGs turn into solids once they cool down. And as they harden, they form blockages inside the sewer or septic system. You know how bad having a clog in your home’s plumbing can be, so imagine the devastation caused when an entire sewer system has a clog.

The impact of oil on the environment

FOGs take a toll on the ecosystem in a number of different ways. Here are a few of the things that go wrong when FOGs end up in the sewer system or a septic tank:

  • Contaminates water supplies: Clogs inside a sewer line or septic system only grow larger and larger as time goes on. These gigantic blockages can burst pipes or cause massive overflows. Either way, that leads to raw sewage flowing directly into the groundwater. Bacteria in raw sewage can be deadly if it’s consumed, which is why cleanup crews act quickly if there’s any sort of overflow.
  • Kills plants and animals: The raw sewage mentioned above can certainly kill plants and wildlife, but sadly, FOGs can also do that on their own. Any used oil and grease that makes its way into the environment coats wildlife, which essentially suffocates plants and animals. If the FOGs aren’t cleaned up quickly, they can destroy an entire ecosystem. This is why you’ve seen images of cleanup crews washing down animals with soap after oil container spills.

What can I do to prevent oil and grease pollution?

Thankfully, avoiding disasters caused by oil and grease is easier than ever. Here’s how you can help Mother Nature:

  • Never dump FOGs: The easiest way to ensure you’re not part of the problem is to keep those FOGs far away from your drains. If we’d all stop pouring FOGs down the drain, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about oil and grease pollution.
  • Hire a grease removal specialist: Be sure to install a grease trap to store all of your used FOGs, and hire a grease recycling specialist to clean the trap and haul those FOGs away for you. At Safeway Used Oil and Grease, we help turn FOGs into products we can use in the future.

Work with Safeway Used Oil and Grease today

If it’s been a while since you last addressed your FOGs, call our team for used oil collection and grease trap cleaning. We’ll send someone out right away to take care of all that old junk and teach you more about the impact of oil on the environment.

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Safeway Used Oil and Grease