What is a Fatberg?
July 17, 2022
Waste Food Disposal Farm Feed, Excess Unsold Food Products De-Packaging, Recycling
When you consider the problems experienced before the arrival of sewer networks in the UK, the general consensus is that they saved the day! Although there are still problems to tackle even with the modern systems. There is a major problem affecting sewer systems throughout the developed world, and one that needs to be tackled.
Fatbergs [as in icebergs] are huge lumps of congealed fat, oil, and grease which settle on various unsavoury items of waste, and calcify. Once formed, they build up, clog and can even burst sewer pipes. The Whitechapel fatberg discovered in 2017 was 130 tons and the length of a football field. The museum of London actually displayed a piece of it and the caption read “The size and foulness of fatbergs makes them impossible to ignore and remind us of our failings.” Fatbergs cost the city of London around £12 million a year and 65 percent of sewage spills are due to fatbergs.
Later this year, the European FOG Summit 2022 networking events take place on 18 October 2022. An interactive conference will follow on 19 October at the Titanic Hotel, Stanley Dock, Liverpool, UK. FOG stands for fat, oil and grease, and the summit aims to bring together the hospitality sector and water industry to collaborate and help solve the sewer network problem.
The summit will focus on commercial kitchens and food service, exploring options to remove FOG at source before it enters the wastewater system. The possibility of utilising FOG as biofuel or other valuable resource will also be discussed. The event promises to be fascinating as there are some interesting speakers and representatives attending.
European FOG Summit managing director Laura Su said: “We are so pleased to be holding the European FOG Summit 2022 in the UK city of Liverpool and are delighted to welcome on board our new partners and venue hosts, United Utilities. “Together with our existing partners Southern Water, we aim to provide a platform for experts to collaborate, take ideas forward and develop tangible solutions to the ongoing challenge of tackling fatbergs and sewer blockages.”