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Turkey grease fattens plumbers' wallets
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Plumbers know they're going to get calls on Thanksgiving.
In fact, for most it's the busiest time of the year.
While preparing a big family feast, many cooks abuse the garbage disposal.
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"That's probably the biggest thing. They dump anything down the drain," said Ryan Hall, owner of Ryco Plumbing in Mesa. "About 90 percent of the problems are with the kitchen sink the day after Thanksgiving."
The other problem occurs when cooks put turkey grease down the drain. Several places offer grease recycling around the Valley. And that's the best route to go.
"Just say no to clogs and yes to turkey grease recycling," said Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Benjamin H. Grumbles. "Thankfully, more households, businesses, and communities are seeing 'green' by keeping fats, waste vegetable oils, and greases out of drains and sewers and converting them into clean-burning biodiesel fuel easily and cheaply."
If cooks put grease down the drain, it could become a problem beyond the kitchen. That's because all the pipes from the house - from the bathroom drains to the kitchen drains - eventually come together outside the house.
"There's the potential if you dump grease down your sink you'll plug up your entire house," he said.
Grease isn't the only problem. Hall said he once unclogged a woman's drain after she dumped about 20 pounds of dehydrated potato flakes down the sink. Then she turned on the water to wash it down.
"We had to get our special equipment to get that out," Hall said.
The garbage disposal isn't meant to chop up or shred food, Hall said. Users should think of the disposal as a mechanism to stir small food pieces up to help them get down the drain, he said.
But should you run into a problem, Hall and his crew are on call.
The town of Gilbert and AZ BioDiesel are partnering to collect grease through Dec. 7 at eight Gilbert fire stations located at the following addresses: 215 N. Cooper Road, 2730 E. Williams Field Road, 2855 E. Guadalupe Road, 1011 E. Guadalupe Road, 909 E. Ray Road, 3630 E. Germann Road, 1095 E. Germann Road and 3595 E. Warner Road.
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