Here’s a hard and fast rule the Palm Bay Utilities Office wants you to remember this Thanksgiving: Don't pour grease down your drain at all.

  • Don't pour grease down your drain, Palm Bay Utilities warn
  • Wait for grease to solidify instead and then toss it
  • Palm Bay uses phrase "cool it, can it, trash it"

"Whatever gets through there will eventually get in to the whole sewer, throughout the city, and it will make havoc on everybody," said Vince Abbruzzese of Palm Bay Utilities.

They suggest pouring everything on your plate into the garbage before washing it. If there's a lot of grease, pour it into a can and throw it into the fridge until it solidifies, then toss it.

"Don't throw it in the toilets, that's another thing people try and do, they think it’s okay to throw it down the toilet ... the same scenario as going down your sink,” Abbruzzese said.

In Palm Bay, they're using the phrase "cool it, can it, trash it.”

The city has these caps that help seal a can of grease, before throwing it in the trash.

In Palm Bay, there were plenty of backups after Hurricane Irma and systems weren't able to be pumped out, so the city says the less grease that's going down the drain, the better for everyone.

"Some of the oils are reusable, you can get a metal strainer and just recycle and reuse it," Abbruzzese said.

Anything is better than pouring grease down your drain and potentially dealing with the gross consequences.