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What is a ‘fatberg’?

The Answer

It is a large mass of fat and solid waste that collects in a sewer system.

In the last decade or so, there has been news out of the UK relating to what has been described as fatbergs. These are large globs of grease, fat and undegradable wet wipes and diapers that have been clogging UK sewers. One as large as 64 meters was discovered under the streets of Devon England.

Even worse, in 2017 a 150-ton, 820-foot-long fatberg was discovered in the sewers beneath east London.

“Workers then have to break them up using pickaxes or shovels, or blast them with high-pressure water jets.”

A fatberg longer than the Leaning Tower of Pisa is clogging another UK sewer – Business Insider

Many of the sewers in the UK were old, built during Victorian times, making them particularly prone to this type of occurrence in this time of non-degradable products being marketed as “flushable”. However, many other cities around the world have had to deal with problematic fatbergs.

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Bonus Biscuit: Are flushable wipes flushable?

A 2019 Canadian study, investigated the properties of 101 single-use wipes, including 23 that were marketed as “flushable”.

“The wipes were tested to international wastewater industry specifications for toilet and drain-line clearance, along with disintegration. Not one wipe passed the tests.”

There is no such thing as a flushable wipe, research finds | CTV News