Green Options

Did you know that San Francisco spends approximately $3.5 million dollars every single year to unclog our sewers? Commercial restaurants and household kitchens are the largest controllable sources of Fats, Oil and Grease (FOG) in the City’s sewer system. Although most individuals don’t produce very much used cooking grease, collectively what we pour down our drains all adds up and makes a disgusting unhealthy clogged mess in our city’s sewers.

Before and after photos of a San Francisco sewer encrusted with used grease

Editor’s note: OK, we’re usually not so potty-mouthed, but, as you’ll see, it’s perfectly (and literally) appropriate this time around. We’re pleased to have Simran Sethi and Sarah Smarsh join us as guest contributors, and share with you their series on the surprising journeys of everyday things.  They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post.  Here’s a sneak peek at bathroom fun.

What you may not realize, cherie, is that whatever you flush down comes back around. Our waste fertilizes our fields and is pumped back into the waterways that are our major sources of drinking water. Let’s take the journey from toilet to tap, shall we? Oui oui. (We’re affecting French here for a touch of sophistication in a post centering on fecal matter.)

Americans use about 70 gallons of water indoors, every day.  About three-quarters of that is used in the toilette—shower, bath, sink, crapper—and over one-quarter is used whisking away our waste.  You can cut this water usage by making sure your toilet isn’t leaking, using a composting or low-flow toilet or even displacing the water in the tank with a brick or container filled with sand .  Your toilet is not a trashcan, so save cigarette butts, tissues and used condoms for the basket, not the bowl.