STEP 2 – Bar Screens

Want to Help Us Out?
Don’t Flush Your Trash!

Our bar screens just catch the big pieces of trash as the wastewater flows through them. Rakes clean the bar screens and put the garbage on a conveyor belt that moves the trash to a dumpster. The dumpsters are hauled to the garbage dump when they get filled.

Some of the things that you should not put down the drain or flush are fats and greases because they clog the pipes and plastics because they do not decompose. Do not flush expired medicines; put them in your trash can. For prescription drugs, call APD Forensic Science Department at 823-4200 so they can be burned. (click for more info)

Another problem are plastics like Band aids, feminine hygiene applicators, and condoms. Plastic does not decompose, but it breaks into smaller pieces that can pass through our bar screens. By putting your trash in a trash can instead of your toilet, you can help us clean the wastewater. Just remember that any trash you flush goes to the same landfill it would have gone to from your trash can. If you flush it, it is coated in wastewater before it arrives there. Yuck.