Feta cheese. That’s how the experts describe the results of our habit of pouring oil and fat down our drains. Your deposits join all the lipids chucked by everyone else, and turn into vast edifices of solid matter which need dismantling with shovels, axes and high-power hoses. And it looks, apparently, like a big block of feta cheese.

I learnt this in How Green Are My Wellies (Eden Project Books, £14.99), the funny and informative new book by my colleague Anna Shepard – the Eco-Worrier in Body&Soul. She’s been down the sewers with a crew from Thames Water – something I plan to do asap – and feta forms part of her accumulated wisdom.

For me, this issue is personal. My kitchen drain is prone to blockages, and whenever I wrestle with them, wodges of fat float to the surface. Off-white, hard, crumbly. Yes, just like feta.

The blockages are not just disgusting but perplexing: I’m pretty careful about following the lipid-removal rules. Used oil goes into glass jars for removal with the rubbish. Meat fat, the highly saturated type that (ask your coronary arteries to look away now) hardens at room temperature, can be binned or put out in the garden for the birds.

After my last struggle with the Augean drain, I adopted a zero-tolerance policy on fat and oil. And I’d like you to do it, too.

To wit: before washing oily or fatty dishes, whether by hand or in the dishwasher, vigorously wipe and scrape all residues into the bin. Possible tools: a used paper towel (as recommended here before), an old credit card (ditto), or the edge of a stiff piece of cardboard. Do the same with cooking vessels. Don’t let a single microgram of lipids go down the drain.

On a lighter note: if you want some additional tips on oil disposal, I highly commend a discussion from www.recyclethis.co.uk. Search the site for “cooking oil”, and read the suggestion about tree stumps.

greenkitchen@thetimes.co.uk

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