Each year tons of waste goes into landfills and wastewater that put our environment at risk. This waste pollutes the air, pollutes the water, and pollutes the land. Chemicals, materials, and particles from your drains end up in wastewater treatment plants and ultimately in our worlds water supply. The plumbing pros at Fite Plumbing have seen it all – believe me!
You cooked dinner and tossed the scraps down the kitchen sink to let the garbage disposal work its magic. You painted a bookcase and rinsed the paintbrush in your bathroom sink. Or maybe you emptied your kitty litter into the toilet and flushed it. We’ve all done things like this many, many times — typically without giving it a second thought. But did you know that those little lapses in judgment could eventually cost you big? Not only are you damaging the environment, but you’re also costing yourself in damage to your home plumbing.
Besides the toys, keys, jewelry, and even cell phones, there are things used daily in a home that should not go down your drains. The following list are things to avoid putting down your sinks, tubs, showers, and toilets. Avoiding these items will not only help our environment but will also protect your pipes!
Save Your Drains from These things:
1. Coffee and Tea Grounds –
This is one of the worst offenders in blocking drains! The grounds coagulate or they can also get stuck in things like oil put down the drains.
2. Pasta, Rice, Flour –
These items will swell down in the pipes. They can also coagulate in the drains and create blockage. These materials act like plaster that can fill up a pipe.
3. Cooking Oil, Grease, Fats –
Liquid oil can coagulate into a solid and block your pipes. These oils also mix easily with other waste and create a messy blockage. They contribute to 50% and over 30,000 sewer overflows in the US.
4. Chemicals –
Items like cleaners, motor oils, paints, medicines, and other chemicals should be kept away from your pipes to protect our waterways and keep from corroding or damaging your pipes.
5. Feces (Even flushable kitty litter) –
Pet feces will not only clog your pipes, but they attract pests and vermin. This can also bring harmful bacteria into your home.
6. Paper –
All paper items such as stickers on the side of fruit, paper towels, sanitary napkins, wipes, and cotton balls will not disintegrate like toilet paper. These can clog pipes, damage them, and cause havoc at wastewater treatment plants.
7. Hard Food Waste –
Seeds, pits, rinds, eggshells and bones should be placed in compost, not drains. The disposal blades are not strong enough to disintegrate these items. They become tiny particles that can then be picked up by other materials and create a blockage.
Protect your pipes and avoid putting these items in your drains. However, we know accidents happen. If your pipes do need help, give us a call at Fite Plumbing at (317) 271-5400 and we can help.
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