United Utilities has been working with thousands of food service establishments to divert 2.5 million litres of cooking fats and oils from North West sewers.

Anglian Water has said that a sewer leak which flooded a shop and caused traffic chaos in Cambridge was the result of fat entering the sewer system.

Water companies across the UK have joined forces with two leading supermarkets to tackle the problem of festive fats like cooking fat, oil and grease being poured down kitchen sinks.

Engineers' efforts to fix a fat-damaged sewer in the Thames Water network are being hampered by tonnes of fresh grease - despite their impassioned pleas to "Bin it - don't block it."

A bus-sized ‘fatberg’, a lump of food fat mixed with wet wipes, has been removed from sewer under Kingston by Thames Water.