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…]
Oil and Wastewater: Your Restaurant and the City
Left untreated, the wastewater from a restaurant will not only damage the restaurant, but also the city’s water pipes and wastewater treatment plant. It’s one of the major reasons cities and counties have fines in place for restaurants to pre-treat their wastewater before it enters the sewers. However, this is more than just avoiding city fines: when your kitchen’s pipes clog, it can shutter your restaurant as wastewater and potentially even sewage flow back into your restaurant from the pipes. To understand the value of grease traps and interceptors, it’s important to understand how FOG (fats, oils, and grease) become an issue in the first place. [Read more…]
