Scottish Water encourages the whole of Scotland to take part in the Unblocktober pledge

Scottish Water has announced its partnership with the Unblocktober campaign and is calling on its customers to take the Unblocktober pledge.

Scottish Water is Scotland’s publicly owned water supplier and serves more than 2.6 million households and over 159,000 business premises across the country. The company is responsible for handling 1.07 billion litres of wastewater a year, treating it and recovering resources before returning it safely to the environment

Driven completely by the British public, Unblocktober aims to continue to improve the health of our drains and reduce the environmental impact of our wastewater. Launched by drainage experts Lanes Group in 2019, the campaign is marking its fifth year in October 2023.

Dan Gilmore from Scottish Water said: “Scottish Water enthusiastically supports Unblocktober, an important initiative that complements our own Nature Calls campaign, highlighting our shared values in protecting the marine environment and planet. Together, we can raise awareness about the simple things we can all do to reduce blockages and keep Scotland flowing.”

“Every day across Scotland, our team attends to around 100 blocked drains and sewers – that’s around 36,000 a year. A staggering 80% of these are avoidable and can be prevented by binning wipes and disposing of fats, oil, and grease correctly.

“When ‘unflushable’ items are thrown down the toilet and fats, oils and grease slopped down the sink, nasty fatbergs can form in our sewer system, which can cause flooding. Small changes can make a huge difference – this Unblocktober, let’s work together to make a positive change.”

The campaign calls for consumers to keep potentially harmful waste materials out of their drains for the whole month. This includes any of the following products:

• Cooking oil – pre or post-cooking
• Margarine
• Butter
• Lard
• Cooking sauces and condiments
• Food – even crumbs
• Wet wipes
• Face masks
• Tampons, applicators and wrappers
• Sanitary/menstrual pads and towels
• Nappies
• Condoms
• Cotton buds
• Contact lenses
• Bandages and plasters
• Razor blades
• Dental floss
• Rubber gloves

You can sign up to the pledge here. 

Jacob Larkin, spokesperson for Unblocktober, said: “To have the support of businesses such as Scottish Water is testament to the need for the Unblocktober campaign. We are so excited to be working with them to help us to save our sewers and seas. Poor drain health is becoming more and more of an issue for the infrastructure in our country, and we need to be working together to tackle this problem.”

For more information on the campaign and how to get involved, visit: https://www.unblocktober.org/