Posted on 03/09/2008 8:11:49 AM PDT by Libloather
City bans garbage disposal units
Residents of Raleigh, N.C., face stiff penalties if they install garbage disposal units in their kitchen sinks or repair existing ones if they break.
The City Council approved the ban on Wednesday, the Raleigh Chronicle reports. The ordinance includes a fine of up to $25,000 a day.
Officials said that anyone caught with an illegal disposal unit could also face a lifetime ban on getting city water. The ban covers several municipalities around Raleigh.
The garbage disposal units, which grind up leftover food and flush it into the sewer system, lead to pipes clogged with grease. That can lead to sewage overflowing into streams or ponds.
Raleigh residents are urged to collect grease in an old can or jar, allow it to harden and put it in the trash.
Brownfield? Tater peels dumped in the woods makes toxic waste?
Great minds think alike: My mother just finished telling me that she uses the baking soda every month in her drain.
She says she would *never* put grease down a drain. She knows from experience how expensive it is to have to replace a septic tank drain field that has become clogged with grease.
Yes grease does reach the septic field, once the tank fills up and the grease layer at the top of the tank is thick -- I had my tank repaired a few years back. It was very close to clogging the drain field.
And that's just pan-wash of grease. So grease makes it past the sink traps.
In a public sewer system the grease will collect at pipe restrictions, baffles, and turns especially where the point is cold enough to turn liquid grease into a wax.
Or do you want the Ganges? Or some Mexican river?
Yes it may be what you say -- that this is Raleigh's way of getting effluent numbers under the stricter regulations. But the stricter regulations are helpful, although not without good questioning.
Me, I like a glass of cool clean water. That's why I like my well!
Regarding your 97, count me in on the fun!
I agree the big fine obviously begs a big backlash! But that backlash is itself more PR. From some comments on this thread it’s clear that the general public knowledge of what happens past the sink drain is lacking.
Look at these enforcement procedures. They are hiring trash and recycling inspectors:
http://www.sandiego.gov/environmental-services/recycling/ro/enforcement.shtml
Exactly. That's why this is a stupid law. Homeowners are going to be stuck with big plumbing bills long before the city. They're looking for a legal solution to a market problem.
I think I’d just have to throw my trash on the mayor’s and city council’s lawn every week. Does your garbage man really do a trash inspection on his route?
Really you can use your disposal for food waste...bacon yes...a frying panload of bacon grease no. The remnants of your cheeseburger ok...the grease that drips out of the George Forman nope. Pour it into a can, let it harden then throw it away (but wrap it in a bag first so the recycling police dont come after you.)
“Grease in your wastelines rarely make it much farther than the stand pipe to which an ordinary P-trap is plumbed at the wall under the sink; 90% of kitchen drain problems trace the plug to this point and can be simply cleaned with hand tools.”
I don’t know where the 90% figure comes from, but in my experience the majority of kitchen drain stoppages seem to be at the san-tee where the kitchen drain joins the main, that is where the calcification is the worst.
I always clear a drain from under the kitchen sink, avoiding the clean-out if there is one. I rarely find anything in the p-trap but it does give me a chance to examine the tee in the wall and chip out some of the calcification if it needs it, sometimes the stoppage is close like you said, but usually it is that last turn at the main.
No matter where the stoppage is, I definitely snake all the way through the entire kitchen drain into the main.
I am going to assume that you are serious in asking this question. When the pan is hot, pour the oil into a coffee can or something similar. When the can is 3/4 full, put a lid on it and toss it in the garbage.
Grease or oil will not freely pass through a drainage system without leaving traces of it in the pipes. Continue the habit long enough and you’ll eventually plug the pipes.
If you want to put on a green coat, save the oil until winter. Put it outside in the cold and let it harden. Press seeds into it. Then wrap it around a piece of rope and hang it in a tree for the birds. This won’t work if you live in SoCal, too warm.
Any limits on flushing or using the toilets?
Or toilet paper used when using toilet paper?
You see where I'm going ... .
Thankfully, no. He is a private business man and would lose a lot of biz if he pulled that stuff.
“I am going to assume that you are serious in asking this question”
It is a theoretical question only. I NEVER put anything greasy down my pipes. I use glass jars or cans. I never fry anything, LOL! But with San Diego City’s new ordinance linked above I stand the chance of a code enforcement officer finding a can or jar in my regular trash and I will be fined. Guess I will have to resort to zip lock bags!
BUMP!
Congealed fats are mostly the result of meat wastes; vegetable oils will not congeal as readily as lard, suet and tallows.
Established communities of any great duration are full of old wastelines that have sclerotic pipes from iron oxidiation and clay-pipe decay.
The worse this condition gets, the more clogging from greases and fibrous waste becomes.
Everything needs maintenance and eventual replacement.
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