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This Christmas, as you baste your golden turkey with fat, and spoon goose grease over your crunchy potatoes, take a moment to think about how you're going to get rid of all those bits you don't eat.

Fatty the Snowman is the spokesman for Anglian Water as they ask us all to think about recycling our lard instead of pouring it down the sink, clogging up the drains and risking a very unpleasant, smelly and expensive accident.

We sent BBC Cambridgeshire reporter Jozef Hall to meet Fatty - probably the only snowman in the world fashioned entirely from fat. 'Fatty the Lardman', might be more accurate.

Collette Nicholls from Anglian Water explains that 10 per cent of our drainage system is currently taken up with fat deposits - and there should be only one per cent of solids down there...

And at Christmas, the problem becomes even worse as on average we use about 25 per cent more fat than usual - what with all that turkey-basting and potato-roasting.

Busily moulding lumps of lard, staff at the water company are eager to show people just how much fat we do pour into our drains. And the result is this lardy little chap you can see right here.

"People think the easiest way to deal with all of that fat is to tip it down the sink with a squidge of washing up liquid, and think that it's gone away, but the truth is that it could come back to haunt you on Boxing Day.

"If it causes a blocked sewer, it's going to be a mess and a smell, and if your back garden is full of sewage, you're NOT going to be enjoying your Boxing Day."

As Collette says, "Fat is a great Christmas present for vermin. It has a delightful aroma and makes a lovely mess on your kitchen floor if it causes a blockage in your pipes."

Today's sewer system was designed and built by the Victorians, and the water company is adamant that the architecture is not only quite striking, but yes, it does stand up to everything we demand from it - but not an overload of lard. It was never designed for it, and it won't cope - nor should it be expected to.

So, what's the answer? Well, we should all be recycling more. It's easy to do with fat - it's great for the birds, once it's cooled and hardened and they'll twitter and tweet and love you for their warming, nourishing meal.

Organic fat traps are also available free from Anglian Water, after which it can go in your compost heap or in the bin - and for large producers of fat, waste can be taken away and made into biodiesel - and that's the plan for Fatty the Snowman. Once he's got his message across, he'll be taken away to the home for retired fatmen, where he'll be turned into lovely biodiesel.

And by the way... what on earth is biodiesel?

Biodiesel is a fuel which can be made from either vegetable oils or animal fats. It's also the only alternative fuel that can be used in an ordinary diesel engine. It can be used alone, although it's most commonly mixed with 80 per cent petroleum diesel and 20 per cent biodiesel.

It's been used in Europe for over 20 years now, and apparently, when used in a car, instead of that nasty petrol smell, biodiesel smells of popcorn or French fries! Yummy!

So, once you've finished tucking into your tasty festive fayre, remember Lardy, and if you want to spend your Boxing Day relaxing in front of the TV rather than mopping up the unmentionables, then dispose of that fat responsibly and keep your sewers fresh as a daisy!