Students asked to enter grease can contest

FALLBROOK – Fallbrook first- through fifth-graders are invited to enter the Fallbrook Public Utility District’s (FPUD) annual grease-can decorating contest.

The contest is part of the ‘Grease – in the Can, Not the Drain!’ campaign, an effort to inform residents that kitchen grease poured down the drain is the number one cause of sewer spills in Fallbrook. Oils and fat stick to the sewer pipes and clog passageways, causing back-ups and sewer spills.

The decorated cans can solve that problem by remaining on kitchen countertops, lined with a plastic bag and filled with cooking grease, then tossed in the trash when full.

To enter, children can decorate any type of metal can or glass container with a lid. From there, the sky is the limit. In the past, cans have been decorated with beads, clothes pins, paint, dried flowers, nuts and bolts, Styrofoam, and even pennies.

In previous years, one winning can looked like pigs eating bacon grease, another paid homage to the Chargers with glittery lightning bolts, and still another looked like Star Wars’ R2D2 character, complete with the computerized beeping sounds.

“If you get kids involved in a project like this, it becomes real for them because it involves their school and their home,” said Keith Lewinger, FPUD general manager. “It gives them pride to create something artistic with their own two hands.”

The deadline to enter is Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. Cans must be delivered to the FPUD district office. Winning artists will be recognized at the Feb. 28 board meeting. The winning grease-catchers will go on display in March at the Art Studios of Fallbrook.