Stafford Fats, oils, grease TV commercial urges responsible disposal

With the holidays comes a reminder from Stafford County to store, not to pour household fats, oils, and grease down the drain.

A new 30-second commercial produced by the county government’s communications office reminds residents about the proper disposal of “FOGs” to keep them from clogging up county pipes and sewers.

The commercial, reminiscent of 1950s instructional films, can be seen on YouTube and set-top streaming media players like Roku and the county’s website.

In the back-and-white commercial, a woman cooks bacon in a household setting while 1950s style pop music plays in the background. She’s about to pour the leftover bacon grease down the drain when a disembodied voice reminds her to use a jar instead to contain the oil.

The county launches its FOGs program in November 2019 to influence Stafford County residents to dispose of their fats, oils, and grease in ways other than pouring them down the drain. Over the years, FOGs have caused significant damage by clogging the county’s water pipes.

In 2018, the county saw 13 sanitary sewer overflows and 191 recorded sewer-main backups. Authorities attributed about 50 percent of those to FOG backups in the sewer systems. The removal of FOGs in that same time cost Stafford an estimated $1.6 million.

According to the county, Stafford’s sewer system serves 35,000 residents. The annual maintenance and pump-out cost are over $1.6 million, meaning that additional complications from FOGs could easily double the county’s sewer infrastructure maintenance cost.

Since its inception, Stafford has conducted multiple campaigns across social media and provided informational flyers to get its message across to residents. The #canyourgrease campaign was once such an endeavor that made its way across platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Officials briefly halted the campaign in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

The county encourages residents to store FOGs in a heat-proof container such as jars or cans and then take them to the Regional Landfill at 489 Eskimo Hill Road or the Belman Road Recycling Center at 1200 Belman Road in Fredericksburg.