If you wash your frying pan in the sink without a second’s thought, you could be harming the environment.
That’s according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which wants you to wait until oil in your pan has cooled after cooking. You should then scrape the excess off, reuse or bin it, then wipe leftover grease out of the pan with kitchen roll before washing, it advised.
The advice, which is part of Defra’s Love Water, campaign, aims to reduce the amount of oil we pour into our waterways as a nation. Just one litre of oil poured down the sink can pollute one million litres of water, Defra 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,” Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency said.
“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.”
The Love Water campaign is being supported by 40 environmental groups, charities, water companies and regulators. The campaign’s long-term ambition is to call on businesses to make water-saving and pollution reduction part of their operational and corporate responsibility targets.
The Food Standards Agency said there is no reason not to follow the advice regarding cleaning frying pans. It told The Telegraph: “As long as utensils are washed appropriately after scraping out the oil, there is no health and safety issue.”