The reason you might be washing your frying pans wrong

The frying pan is a kitchen staple, with households using it to cook bacon, sausage, eggs and other delicious foods. But many of us are cleaning them incorrectly.

We might think we’re doing a good thing by immediately rinsing the grease off a frying pan after use, instead of procrastinating and leaving dishes to the last minute. But letting all that grease go down the drain is not a good thing.

In fact, it can cause blockages due to grease congealing, which can clog your drainpipe and even cause explosions of sewage. Grease makes its way into water sources too, causing further pollution.

So if you don’t want to see our lakes, streams and seas polluted with the stuff, experts recommend leaving your frying pan to cool down after use.

Once you’ve done that, scrape away leftover grease to reuse or bin. After removing grease, then you can give it a good scrub in the kitchen sink like you’d usually do.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have launched a campaign to raise awareness of this, and encourage citizens to reduce the amount of oil dumped into the water.

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency said: ‘Most people agree that water is a precious resource but too often we take it for granted and don’t see how our actions have a direct effect on the local rivers, lakes and beaches we all care about.

‘Our campaign intends to change that by urging people to use water wisely and to think before pouring cooking oil down the drain or flushing a wet wipe away.

‘We know that everyone has a duty to preserve and protect water and the campaign will also work with industry, water companies and other regulators in the longer-term to cut down on wastage.’

So if you want to help reduce pollution, make sure you’re either reusing your oil or disposing of it properly. You’ve now got a very good excuse to leave the washing up until later!