Let's talk trash

Protecting water quality starts with each of us!

View print version (PDF).

Helpful hint: Print out the flier above and post it in your bathroom or kitchen to remind yourself what needs to be thrown away!

When it comes to disposal...

Drains, toilets and trash cans are not all the same. Disposing of trash down drains and toilets can lead to sewer overflows and back-ups that can cause harm to human health and our local environment.

In the kitchen

• grease & produce stickers = trash
• food = compost or yardwaste bins for City of Seattle Residents, or a garbage disposal.

Grease sticks to household and sewage pipes. Over time, grease build-up will block the entire pipe and result in raw sewage backing up into your home or overflowing into the street or waterway. Follow these four simple steps to keep things running smoothly.

• Don't put produce stickers down the drain.
• Don't put grease, fats, or oil of any type down your drain or garbage disposal.
• Do use baskets or strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids and empty them into the trash or compost them.
• Do scrape grease and food scraps from cooking surfaces into a container and put in the trash can, or compost them.

In the bathroom

Think trash not toilets. Flushing the wrong thing down the toilet damages your household plumbing, your environment and the wastewater treatment system. If it isn't from your body or toilet paper, put it in the trash instead of the toilet.