Septic tank maintenance

July 8th, 2013:

Municipal grease trap cleaning

This article will cover municipal grease trap cleaning and the benefits. Progress is natural but it can also be synthesized according to how you would want it. In this day and age, people just couldn’t help but witness all types of progress unfold right before their very eyes. It’s everywhere and it’s continually pushing everything forward. But when there is progress, it’s already a given that there just might be some things that could be to everyone’s disadvantage. FOG (fats, oils, grease) is one of the prices that the Earth has to pay for having such enormous yet uncontrolled progress. It is growing to be one of the biggest environmental problems that have ever affected the United States and every municipality is dealing with it the best way they could.

The food industry is the main causative agent of the FOG problem in the US. Any institution or establishment that’s related to food contributes a great deal to the worsening effects of FOG overflow. This is the main reason why a pretreatment or a grease trap ordinance is strictly implemented and observed so that the grease materials may be prevented from spilling into the wastewater. The ordinance aims to protect the sewer lines and the wastewater treatment facility as well. If the FOG doesn’t stop clogging the pipes, backing up of untreated effluent will continue to occur; the holding capacity of the pipes will decrease dramatically, the pipes will be frequently replaced, and the damages to health, property, and environment will continue to affect everyone.

According to the grease ordinance, the food establishment owner or administrator should have a permit for the installed grease trap or grease interceptor. This valuable component needs to be regularly inspected by the municipal representative that handles matters that concern the sewers. It is also mandated that the grease traps should always be cleaned up or pumped out at least four times annually or more frequent than that, depending of its actual use.

The much required grease interceptor is a vessel or receptacle that collects the FOG and solid waste materials that come mainly from the kitchens or areas of food preparation/production. Food is made up of vegetable and animal fats and these are the by-products that go straight into the drains and into the grease traps. There is a set maximum level of FOG that’s allowed to spill into the wastewater but as much as possible, this should be kept as a low minimum. Municipal grease trap cleaning really has to be done more effectively to make sure that contamination in all levels does not happen at all.

Annually, food industries face environmental lawsuits and pay up very hefty fines because of the FOG overflow from their grease traps. This happens because of their lack of maintenance and care for the grease trap. Since food manufacturers produce FOG more than any other industry in any municipality, a weekly maintenance practice should be initiated. An employee should be assigned to monitor the FOG level in the grease trap to make sure how frequent the cleaning up should be. Those who are working in wash stations should remember that how water used should only be up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Melted grease in hot or warm water can appear harmless but this will eventually solidify in the pipes and blockage will occur.

If the food establishment owners see it impractical and expensive to very frequently pump out and clean their grease traps, it would be better to install a much larger grease trap instead.  This will lengthen the time interval of cleaning sessions and would save the company more money.

Municipal grease trap cleaning can be much more accelerated with the use of bacteria. With these friendly microorganisms, the grease trap is cleaned up more thoroughly. The bad odors are also eliminated when they work on the grease trap. Bacteria-based processes such as bioaugmentation and bioremediation can really bring progress to a brand new level. Progress CAN exist while caring for health, property, and environment.