You’ve been up since 6 a.m. to get the turkey, turducken, or tofurkey in the oven. You’re sleep deprived after staying up late to bake pies and clean the house for holiday guests.

Now it’s 7 p.m. The guests are gone. You’ve eaten a lot, laughed a lot, and you’re ready to call it a day. The dishwasher has been loaded. But one giant task remains –cleaning out the roasting pan.  Or maybe you fried the turkey, and you have to dispose of an entire vat of cooking oil.

The last thing you’re going to want to deal with is a sewer overflow, so put cooking oil and grease where they belong:  in your garbage, in a tightly-sealed container.

Just as fatty foods clog arteries, fats, oils and grease stick to the inside of pipes. Clogged pipes means sewer backups. Whether it’s in your home or elsewhere, raw sewage can put people’s health and the environment at risk.

Keep the plumber off your party guest list with King County’s environmentally friendly grease disposal tips- and  help us keep our sewers fat-free all year long.

• Put baskets and strainers in sinks to catch food scraps.
• Don’t put greasy food or meat in garbage disposals.
• Before washing dishes, use a spatula to scrape batter and food residue from bowls and plates.
• Never pour oil or grease into a drain, which can harm wildlife.
• Consider recycling large quantities of cooking oil from deep fryers at one of several Puget Sound area locations.

King County’s EcoConsumer Program has great tips on recycling cooking oil and grease. Cooking oil from deep fryers can be recycled as biofuel and provide even more value than that tasty turkey. General Biodiesel has collection locations around western Washington – check their website for drop-off locations, or call them for info.

And if you live in Seattle, you have a really easy option: you can recycle your used cooking oil by putting it out with your curbside recycling. Pour your cooled oil in a plastic jug with a screw-on lid, label the jug with your name and address, and set your cooking oil next to your recycling cart on your collection day in Seattle.

Enjoy your holiday with family and friends- or eat the whole turkey yourself-  and take a few extra minutes to keep your pipes fat free!

Not what you want to see at the end of a long holiday weekend!