As a company offering grease trap services, it’s our responsibility not only to pump and clean traps according to local and federal ordinances, but also to ensure the oil is correctly disposed of. The buildup of fats, oils, grease, and solids (FOGS) can cause severe ecological harm if not appropriately handled by professionals. In this blog, we’ll discuss the negative environmental impact of FOGS if a grease trap is not properly emptied and maintained and the steps to preserving nature. [Read more…]
Grease Traps in the News: 2019 Fall Edition
It’s almost a new year! Let’s look back on the fall of 2019 for all the interesting and demonstrative news around this one product. Welcome again to Grease Traps in the News, your one-stop-shop for all things grease-trap related, from all parts of the US and beyond. As always, we’re highlighting the various issues that can arise around grease traps from breakthroughs and successes to issues that hurt businesses and the communities around them. This time around, we’re covering everything from sewer overflows to using restaurant grease in creating methane gas.
[Read more…]What Happens If Your Restaurant Causes a Sewer Overflow?
There’s a reason the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates that all municipalities in the US have policies to control the Fats, Oils, Grease, and food Solids (FOGS) that enter the waste systems. FOGS is estimated to cause over 50% of all sewer overflows, creating restrictions and blockages in sewer pipes by slowly attaching and accumulating to the walls of the pipes and drawing more solids and other FOGS particles into its sticky mass. The resulting constricted water flow leads to sewer overflows in the streets or even into the floors and basements of homes and businesses. Learn about what it can cost you if your restaurant causes a combined sewer overflow. [Read more…]
Fatbergs in the US: Victories, Losses, and Infrastructure
If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you may have seen a recent article with a familiar word if you read our monthly blog: fatberg. In this story, covered by various news sources (our favorite was Divers swim through 90 feet of raw sewage to unclog giant, hairy ‘fatberg’ from the NY Post), covers a North Carolina fatberg – a collection of various materials held together by congealed grease and less savory filth – that had plugged the Plum Island Wastewater Treatment Center. This article, while disgusting and humorous by itself, highlights the issues US wastewater systems face, especially when it comes to what individuals and businesses flush down the drains. [Read more…]
Restaurant-City Relations: The Need for the Right Grease Trap
Grease traps are mandatory in many parts of the country, with their regulation changing from state to state and even county to county. However, the reasons behind this enforcement remain the same regardless of where you are in the country. If a restaurant doesn’t have a grease trap, the right grease trap of appropriate size, or poor maintenance of the trap, it can land itself in hot water with the city. Worse yet, it can even damage their sewers and itself in the process. Today we look at three recent examples from across the nation about restaurants getting into trouble with the city over their grease traps or lack thereof. [Read more…]
