CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
James Baginski, head of the city's Regulatory Control Branch, holds a hardened grease ball.
Notice the big blob in the hands of the man at right. Pipe-clogging grease
is on the city's hit listBy Betty Shimabukuro
betty@starbulletin.comThat blob is the reason you should not wash grease down your sink. Not leftover bacon fat, not fat skimmed off a soup or stew, certainly not the grease leftover from deep-fat frying.
The man with the blob is spreading that message this holiday season. Peace on Earth, good will toward men and no grease in the city's pipes. Please.
His name is James Baginski and he is head of Honolulu's Regulatory Control Branch, a position created by federal mandate in the mid-'90s because the city had too many sewage spills related to grease.
His pet grease ball is but a small piece of a 5-gallon grease ball that itself was just a small piece of a massive clog that maintenance crews pulled from the sewer lines a few years ago.
"People think it's everything from a meteor to a moon rock," Baginski says.
He was surprised himself that a grease clog could be so hard. Truth is, little bits of grease collect to make a bigger piece of grease, and over time that gloms onto other debris in the system -- sand and grit and whatnot -- until "it literally becomes hard as a rock."
Baginski takes his grease ball along whenever he needs to show people how every little bit hurts. "Any time you have meat involved or cooking oil, that's going to contribute to these blockages," he says.
We at the Star-Bulletin are happy to contribute to the solution. Take the newspaper in your hands, wad it up and stuff it into a can or carton. Next time you have grease to get rid of, pour it into the cartoon so it is absorbed in the newspaper, then wrap up the whole mess and throw it in the trash.
"The key word that I use repeatedly is 'absorb,'" Baginski says. Because not only are you warned against pouring grease down the drain, you also shouldn't put it straight into the trash, not even if it's cooled and hardened. The blazing sun beating on your trash can will melt the grease, creating a liquidy mess for refuse collectors.
Home kitchen grease is but part of the problem, of course. Businesses such as restaurants are also in Baginski's target zone. To that end, the city has revamped its guidelines for grease traps, designed to keep as much grease from all sources out of sewage lines.
Gains are being made, Baginski says. From 1995 to 1997, the city averaged 100 grease-related sewage spills a year. This year, the total should be less than 50.
Bottom line: Sewage spills cost time and money to clean up (translation: higher sewage fees). They slow traffic, interrupt business operations, create health hazards and they're gross. Grease clogs are a preventable cause of these spills and you, standing at your kitchen sink, can do something about them.
Every little bit hurts.
Honolulu Regulatory Control Branch
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