West Oxfordshire District Council asked Chadlington Parish Council to publicise the following information
West Oxfordshire District Council is tackling ‘fatbergs’ head-on by collecting and recycling used cooking oil.
The Council is one of only a few local authorities to offer cooking oil recycling as part of household collections.
As well as putting the waste to good use by turning it into green energy, the service is being praised for helping to reduce the amount of leftover cooking fat and oil being poured into sinks and drains. When this happens the liquid solidifies and can create putrid fatty masses, known as ‘fatbergs’, which cause serious problems in sewer systems.
In West Oxfordshire, there have been almost 1,500 ‘fatberg’ blockages in the last five years, resulting in over 300 homes and gardens being flooded with sewage. In April, there was traffic chaos in Oxford after a fatberg caused part of a sewer to collapse and last month (September) a fatberg the length of a Boeing 747 aeroplane was discovered in sewers in Shepherd’s Bush, London, after flooding occurred.
Cllr David Harvey, the District Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We are very proud of the kerbside recycling opportunities that we give to our residents and are delighted to hear that this will help to lessen the wider problem of ‘fatbergs’. However, the statistics on blockages show that more can be done and we would urge all residents to make use of this fantastic recycling service.
“It is very simple – fat can be left to cool and, when hardened, scrape it into your food waste recycling bin. When cooled, leftover oil can be poured into a clear plastic bottle and put out next to your kerbside recycling boxes on collection days.”
While cooking oil is regularly collected from restaurants and chip shops across the UK, kerbside recycling collections are uncommon.
Thames Water, the company that runs the sewer network in Oxfordshire, has praised the recycling initiative. “We fully support this leading initiative. This recycling scheme is among the first in the Thames Water region and West Oxfordshire District Council should be rightly proud”, said Lawrence Gosden, managing director of wholesale wastewater from Thames Water. “This work will help to keep the pipes running freely and save customers from the misery of sewer flooding.”