Whether you are using your toilet, shower, washing machine or dishwasher, wastewater leaves your home through pipes that connect to the Town's sewer system. Many materials frequently flushed or poured down the drain can harm the pipes that connect to Town sewers as well as the Town's sewer system. Every property owner connected to the Town's sewer system can be a potential contributor to sewer problems, and a potential victim of those problems. Putting the wrong things down the drain can damage the sewer system, cause sewer backups in your home, and sewer releases to the environment. Anyone who uses the Town's sewer system should be responsible for what they flush or pour down drains.

Don’t Flush This

Basically, the only thing you should ever flush down a toilet is human waste (urine and feces) and toilet paper. Here is a list of things to keep out of the toilet:

• disposable diapers
• tampons
• cotton balls and swabs
• mini or maxi pads
• unused medications (medication requires special handling, see instructions below*)
• condoms
• cleaning wipes of any kind, including personal wipes
• facial tissue
• bandages and bandage wrappings
• contact lenses
• dental floss
• diapers
• cat litter
• paint/thinners
• pesticides
• goldfish
• acidic or caustic substances
• cigarette butts

BEWARE of packaged items that say "flushable". It does not mean it won't cause a problem once it hits our sewer system.

*Medications - Keep all medications out of our sewer system and landfill. Outdated or unused medication should be collected, put in a sealed container and dropped off at the designated dropbox location, outside of the Community Chambers building, 20727 E. Civic Parkway (M-Th, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.). Liquid medications and syringes are NOT accepted at this location.

Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG)

Grease is a byproduct of cooking. It comes from meat, lard, oil, shortening, butter, margarine, food scraps, baking goods, sauces and dairy products. Grease in sewer pipes causes sewer maintenance problems for property owners and the Town. Never pour grease into your sink drain and try to use your garbage disposal less. When grease washes down the sink, it sticks to the insides of the pipes that connect your home or business to the Town‘s sewer. It also coats the insides of Town sewer pipes. Eventually, the grease can build up until it completely blocks sewer pipes. That can create difficult and expensive maintenance problems for the Town and private property owners. In addition, blocked sewer pipes can cause raw sewage to back up into your home or business, or overflow into streets and streams. Garbage disposals don’t keep grease out of sewer pipes. Products that claim to dissolve grease may dislodge a blockage, but will only cause problems farther on down the line when the grease hardens again.

Instead of flushing your used cooking grease and oil (or pouring it down the drain), you can recycle it for free at Fire Station 2 or the Queen Creek Recycle Center! Learn more about the Town’s cooking oil recycling program at QueenCreekAZ.gov/CookingOil.

Thank you for helping us to protect our infrastructure and our environment.