‘Fatbergs’ are clogging the sewers

Deep beneath the streets of London and around the world, floating islands of rubbish have begun to form, dubbed fatbergs. Building up along our sewage systems, piles of wipes, oil and grease are morphed into monstrous mounds of waste which are hard to shift. As they collect, litres of congealed oil and conglomerated wet wipes pile together to form these giant blockages, some as heavy as a blue whale. Back in 2017 one fatberg hit the headlines as one of the largest yet to be broken down. It took eight workers using high-pressure jet hoses nine weeks to remove. Commonly occurring in various sizes, Goliath fatbergs are becoming more and more common – just last year a 90-tonne blockage was uncovered in Liverpool spanning 84 metres.