The kitchen is known as the heart of a home and also considered to be one of the dirtiest places in your home. Knowingly and unknowingly, we throw a lot of things down the kitchen drain, tub drain and toilet everyday. Our daily expedient habits are eventually going to cost us big in the long-run. Things that we regularly throw down the drain can damage the pipes of our home, sewage treatments and our environment a significant extent. To learn more, check out our list below which includes things that clog your drain.
Oils, grease and fatty substances
Oil is a common cause of drain blockage. This includes mayonnaise, margarine and salad dressing which can create sludge. When you’re thinking of washing down grease and gravy during dish-washing, refrain yourself from doing so as these are the things that clog your drain over time and make other substances cling onto them, which in turn can cause blockage. Moreover, grease will also get in the way of keeping your kitchen trendy and fresh.
Moreover, dairy products like butter, cheese and cream can easily attach themselves onto your kitchen drain, too. They tend to build up over time and act as water barriers. It’s best to scrape these items off of your plate and throw them in the bin to avoid plumbing issues. Milk is another item that should never be spilled down the drain. Milk also encourages algae growth, so unless you want to deal with that, think twice before throwing out dairy products.
Expandable items
Any expandable food item such as Rice or Pasta can cause severe blockage since they swell up every time they touch water. The sticky semolina flour in noodles is one of the things that clog your drain. Moreover, rice is one of our major staple foods in Bangladesh. Hence, it’s easy to overlook how much we are wasting it during cooking. However, this is one of the things that clog your drain and is a common cause of drain blockage. The same goes for other types of flour. Flour basically acts like glue when it comes into contact with water. It coagulates and hardens inside the pipes, causing blockage.
Medicine
There’s no danger to your pipes from the substances found in medicine. However, these components travel the drain to reach rivers and oceans, contaminating the waters, harming animals and marine life. Expired or unused medication should be thrown away (sealed, of course) because crushing and flushing will only come back to harm the environment. Hence, medicine is on the list of what not to put down your drain.
Cleaning products
Cleaning products can erode the inner parts of pipes severely since they contain powerful chemicals that fix stains. Cleaning solutions often contain phosphates, antibacterial agents and other components that are highly hazardous to our environment. These little lapses in our judgment can have negative impacts on the ecosystem as well as disrupt our homes’ plumbing systems. So, when you want to make space on your kitchen counter, get rid of these products safely!
‘flushable’ products
Let’s face it. Flushable products are not always flushable. Toilet paper, flushable wipes, sanitary napkins, paper towel, etc. are only some of the things we throw away daily without giving it a second thought. These are definitely on the list of what not to put down your drain. These products are generally not biodegradable. The same goes with the produce stickers found in fruits. Stickers cannot dissolve in water. Hence, they can clog your drain, and as a result, impede the flow of water out of your home.
With a few changes, you can easily avoid plumbing issues. Moreover, this article should be an awareness post for those who were still unaware of the consequences. The aftermath of our wrongdoings is hurting our surroundings and our quality of life. Therefore, it’s important to understand and acknowledge how plumbing works. Only then can we reduce the damage done to our property and the environment.
