Bin it, don’t block it
Putting the wrong things down the toilet or sink can cause a blockage that could make waste overflow into your home.
Preventing blockages
The pipes that carry wastewater away from your home are only about 30cm across. If the pipes get blocked, waste can back up and spill in your home, garden or neighbourhood.
A blockage is horrible to sort out and can be expensive to fix – up to £250 (and if your blockage impacts your neighbours, you might have to pay to unblock theirs, too).
Why do pipes get blocked?
About 75% of blockages happen because the wrong things have been poured down sinks or flushed down toilets.
In the pipes, cooking fat hardens and clumps together with things like wet wipes and period products. More waste sticks to the fatty lump until it’s big enough to block the pipe.
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Why does it matter?
Possible consequences of blocked sewers
- Higher insurance costs after a claim
- Smell and unpleasantness
- Pollution to local streams and rivers
- Damage to your home and property
- Flooding neighbours’ homes
- Having to move to temporary accommodation
- Up to £250 cost to unblock a drain
- Potential for people to get sick
- Traffic disruption if we need to dig up roads
- Time off work to sort problem out
- Inconvenience and disruption
- Unable to eat garden produce for a year
Love your Loo
Only put the 3Ps down the toilet – pee, poo and paper. Everything else needs to go in the bin. Even wipes that claim to be flushable should be binned, not flushed. They still take much longer to break down than toilet paper, so they can cause blockages. According to Water UK, wet wipes make up about 93% of the material found in sewer blockages.
Think Sink
Don’t put food scraps, cooking fat or grease down the sink. Scrape them into the bin instead (make sure any hot fat has cooled first). You can use a gunk pot (an old yoghurt pot or similar) to put greasy stuff in before binning it.
What does a sewer blockage look like?
Blocked sink
If your sink is blocked, it might drain slowly or have bubbles coming from the plughole.
Blocked toilet
If your toilet is blocked, it might drain slowly or have bubbles coming from the U-bend. Stop flushing as this can make it worse.
Blocked garden pipe
A blockage in your garden can cause waste to leak around manholes or create boggy patches.
Blocked manhole cover
A blocked sewer further away from home might cause manholes to leak or waste to run down the gutters
