Condo Living Etiquiette: Please Refrain from Disposing of Food and Grease Down Your Kitchen Sink! – Spring 2025
April 25, 2025
It is very important to remember not to dispose of any cooking grease, fat, or food down the kitchen, or bathroom faucets. Condo corporations will often remind tenants of this, due to how severe the damage can be as a result.
In a condo, units are stacked on top of eachother throughout the building. Therefore the piping to each unit is routed to a communal main stack. Liquid grease such as animal fats, cooking oil, salad dressings, mayonnaise, melted cheese, gravy or peanut butter will easily congeal and trap other solid food trimmings. Partial blockages will grow until waste water can no longer exit through the stack, and result in unpleasant backup into your sink.
Other common products found in plumbing drains include:
- Hygiene products
- Medication (pills and liquid)
- Household hazardous waste
- Car and garage products
- Rice
- Fruit stickers and peels
- Cat litter
The extensive remediation that is required can also lead to water pressure disturbances, water shutdowns, unit entry, and other inconvenient headaches that will disrupt the quiet enjoyment of your home. Damage that results from this preventable flooding is expensive to fix, and should the issue occur repeatedly, you will be responsible for covering the associated cost.
Please ensure that you clean your dishes by scraping off any excess food waste into the proper green bin before washing. When you wash, try to refrain from using steel wool products, as fibers can easily break off and get caught along with any food and grease. Tenants should also consider a basket strainer in the kitchen sink that will trap small food particles from entering the plumbing drains. A similar strainer in the bathroom sink will trap hair trimmings and prevent similar clogging.
In addition to bagging and disposing of food, grease and oil in your compost bin, you can also bring it to recycling drop-offs, where they are turned into biofuel, or re-used as gardening compost.
Your cooperation is essential to maintain smooth operation of the building, and a comfortable living environment.
Thank you for your ongoing cooperation.
Regards,
The Rental Lifestyle Group Inc. – Residential Leasing and Management – Toronto
Date: April 25th, 2025