Fatberg Perfume: A Smart Scientist’s Solution

This post is admittedly a bit strange. It’s all about fatberg perfume! Yes, I know. Weird, right?

Well, in January 2025, Professor Stephen Wallace at the University of Edinburgh made headlines with a breakthrough that sounds like science fiction: his team engineered bacteria that eat fatbergs and convert them into pine-scented perfume ingredients.

The fatberg perfume research is genuinely impressive. The bacteria consume the fats in fatbergs and excrete pinene — a valuable fragrance compound used in cosmetics, perfumes, and shampoos.

But while scientists are finding innovative ways to handle fatbergs after they form, there’s a simpler question nobody’s asking:

What if we prevented fatbergs from forming in the first place so we don’t need fatberg perfume?

The Fatberg Perfume Process

The fatberg perfume breakthrough came after years of bioengineering research.

Professor Wallace and his team at Edinburgh University have developed a fascinating bioengineering solution.

For the fatberg perfume process, they feed chunks of fatberg to specially modified bacteria. These bacteria contain DNA from plants that allows them to digest the fat and oils in fatbergs while producing pinene — the chemical that gives pine needles their distinctive fresh scent.

As Wallace explained to Scotland’s STV News: “What we’ve done is engineer bacteria to eat fatbergs and turn them into fragrance compounds used in products such as perfumes and shampoos.”

The process works like this:

1. Fatbergs are collected from sewers by specialist teams
2. Samples are sterilised in the laboratory
3. Engineered bacteria are introduced
4. The bacteria consume the fat, multiplying as they feed
5. They secrete pine-scented oil as a by-product
6. The fatberg gradually disappears, leaving fragrant oil behind

The fatberg perfume technology is clever, innovative, and good science.

But this is treating the symptom rather than curing the disease.

What Creates Fatbergs?

While fatberg perfume technology handles the waste, it doesn’t stop fatberg creation.

Fatbergs form from a toxic combination:

1. Wet wipes (the main culprit)

• Marketed as “flushable” (how they get away with this baffles me!!)
• Don’t break down like toilet paper
• Create the structural “skeleton” of fatbergs
• Used by millions who believe the marketing

2. Fats, oils, and grease (FOG)

• Poured down kitchen sinks
• Solidify when they cool in sewers
• Act as “cement” binding wet wipes together
• Create the hardened mass

3. Time

• Fatbergs form over months or years
• Gradually build up in sewer pipes
• Grow larger as more waste accumulates
• Eventually block the entire pipe

Remove any one of these elements, and fatbergs can’t form.

>> Check out “The ultimate test: Wet wipe vs toilet paper” – a simple test proving wet wipes are NOT flushable.

The Real Solution: Stop Creating Fatbergs

Unlike fatberg perfume conversion, the Bum Gun bidet sprayer prevents the problem entirely.

While Edinburgh scientists are finding ways to recycle fatbergs into perfume, billions of people worldwide have been preventing them for centuries: they use water instead of wipes.

Throughout Asia, the Middle East, and increasingly in progressive Western nations, people use bidet sprayers to get ‘properly clean’ after every poop. It’s common sense bathroom hygiene.

The logic is simple:

• The Bum Gun bidet sprayer requires no wet wipes
• Nothing solid goes down the drain except toilet paper after drying
• Toilet paper disintegrates harmlessly
• No fatberg “skeleton” can form
• Problem prevented at the source

The benefits stack up:

• Environmental: Zero wet wipe waste
• Economic: No recurring wet wipe purchases
• Hygienic: Water cleans better than wipes anyway
• Infrastructure: No contribution to sewer blockages
• Long-term: One purchase vs. lifetime of buying wipes

Two Approaches: Reactive vs. Proactive

Professor Wallace’s approach (Reactive):

1. Let people continue flushing wet wipes
2. Allow fatbergs to form
3. Remove fatbergs (£18M annually)
4. Convert them into perfume ingredients
5. Create value from waste

Water cleansing approach (Proactive):

1. Use bidet sprayer instead of wet wipes
2. Flush only water and toilet paper
3. No fatbergs form
4. No removal costs
5. No environmental cleanup needed

Both approaches have merit. But one prevents the problem while the other manages it after it occurs.

The Bigger Picture

Professor Wallace’s research represents important progress in waste management and bioengineering. Converting waste into valuable products is absolutely part of our sustainable future.

But we shouldn’t need to convert fatbergs into perfume because we shouldn’t be creating fatbergs in the first place.

Imagine if scientists developed bacteria to convert plastic ocean waste into useful products. Brilliant innovation, yes. But wouldn’t it be better to stop plastic reaching the ocean?

The same logic applies to fatbergs.

What The UK Government Says

In 2025, the UK government announced legislation to ban wet wipes containing plastic — a move Thames Water and environmental groups have welcomed.

But this only addresses part of the problem. “Plastic-free” wipes still don’t break down fast enough to prevent fatberg formation. They’re still not as flushable as the packaging claims.

The ban is progress. But it doesn’t solve the fundamental issue: we’re flushing things that shouldn’t be flushed.

The Economics Of Prevention

I understand why people want wet wipes. They know toilet paper doesn’t get them properly clean. But neither do wet wipes. The best solution is The Bum Gun bidet sprayer with an invigorating jet-stream of fresh water to get you ‘shower-fresh” clean EVERY time.

Plus, buying wet wipes every week is costing you a fortune:

• £5-10 per month
• £60-120 per year
• £1,800-3,600 over 30 years
• Plus disposal costs, environmental impact, and contribution to £18M++ annual cleanup

Buying a bidet sprayer once:

• £60 one-time purchase + safety valve
• A good quality sprayer should last at least 5 years
• Zero recurring costs
• Zero environmental impact once manufactured
• Prevents fatberg contribution entirely

The maths isn’t complicated. Prevention costs a fraction of the recurring expense of wet wipes. There’s just no need for fatberg perfume either.

Both Solutions Can Coexist

Here’s the good news: we don’t have to choose one approach exclusively.

Ideal scenario:

1. People switch from wet wipes to using The Bum Gun bidet sprayer (prevention)
2. Existing fatbergs get converted to useful products (recycling)
3. No new fatbergs form while old ones are cleaned up
4. Within years, the fatberg crisis ends

Professor Wallace’s bacteria can help clean up the mess we’ve already made. The Bum Gun bidet sprayer can prevent making more mess.

Both solutions working together achieve the best outcome.

Take Action: Be Part Of The Solution

You have three options:

Option 1: Keep using wet wipes, contribute to the massive, expensive fatberg crisis, and hope scientists keep finding innovative ways to recycle the mess.

Option 2: Stop using wet wipes, switch to water cleansing, and prevent fatbergs from forming while enjoying superior hygiene and saving money.

Option 3: Do both — switch to water cleansing yourself while supporting research that handles existing fatbergs.

We vote for Option 3.

Final Thoughts on Fatberg Perfume and The Smart Solution

Professor Stephen Wallace and his Edinburgh University team deserve recognition for their innovative fatberg perfume research. It’s genuine progress in sustainable waste management.

But the most sustainable solution is creating less waste in the first place.

Billions of people worldwide have been using the prevention method for centuries: using fresh water to clean properly. It’s cleaner, cheaper, more sustainable, and prevents fatbergs from ever forming.

Thames Water can keep spending £18 million plus annually on removal and hope scientists keep finding uses for fatbergs — or we can all make one simple change that eliminates the problem at its source.

The choice is yours. Prevention or conversion? Simple or complex? Fresh Water or Nasty wet wipes?

The solution is simple. The time to act is now. Click that link below to our promotions page…

>> Discover the massive benefits of The Bum Gun Bidet Sprayer

You’ll be so glad you did. Remember, no one goes back to toilet paper after discovering The Bum Gun!!