FOG Pretreatment

The pandemic is pushing city governments and public health departments across the country to adopt a pretreatment mindset to diagnose the welfare of local populations. How this shift in thinking ties directly to sewer systems ... 

Imagine following all state and local grease management regulations and STILL receiving a non-compliance fine because grease in your city's wastewater system was traced back to your kitchen. Your grease trap is working as it should. Your kitchen practices are on point. What is going on?  The answer is ... 

Among the many pandemic-driven culinary trends over the past two years is a reminder that rotisserie chicken remains a popular comfort food. Many grocery store chains enjoyed strong and steady rotisserie chicken sales amid the ups and downs of the past 24 months, as have a number of restaurants that serve it. Investing in a rotisserie oven can be good for business, but beware. They dump a lot of grease into your plumbing system. Here’s how to prepare for it. 

North American and European grease interceptor standards give you peace of mind that the model you choose will do the job long-term, without risking damage to your community’s wastewater system and your bottom line. While Trapzilla units passed both tests with flying colors, not every grease interceptor does or is even is subjected to these tests in the first place. Here, we outline what these tests entail.

Replacing a grease trap is a real opportunity for you and your business to save money and avoid plumbing problems better than you had before. Most grease traps last at least a decade. By the time you need a replacement, the technology has advanced and can help your business manage grease on a whole new level. To make your shopping experience easier, we've detailed several factors to consider when reviewing your options. 

As if running a business isn’t challenging enough in the current economic climate, an invisible fallout from the pandemic may be lurking in the pipes beneath hotels and restaurants. And it really stinks. 

That offensive rotten-egg smell signals the presence of hydrogen sulfide creeping up from the grease interceptor into your business. During the pandemic, we’ve had calls from clients asking about the smell, and their stories offer a helpful heads-up for all of us. 

When I'm often asked when grease interceptors should be serviced, I wonder whether those who are asking have bigger concerns -- notably that increasing the pumping frequency of grease separators does not eliminate high FOG effluent numbers. 

Today and in the future, the link between customer and vendor will be absolutely vital. Why? Consider the struggle restaurant operators are having with hiring. It’s not just food service, either. All service industries are having trouble with staffing, including plumbing.

Restaurant businesses need vendors to step up with the kind of help we provide. We all know optimal service begins with having good customer information to begin with. That’s why we just launched a campaign to compel more customers to register their devices with us.

In the late 1980s, The Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) provided a great example of how to maximize control when it carried out one of the most effective Pretreatment programs I've seen in my career. It had to implement an audacious pretreatment program to reduce downstream wastewater treatment plant loadings sufficient to meet the EPA’s first Marine Estuary Guidelines. The NBC was in a tough spot.

A simple, yet effective way to explain on-site pretreatment is to use a three-legged stool analogy. A three-legged stool works only when all three legs are the same length and angle and have the same strong attachment to the stool seat. If any leg is shorter, at a different angle, or loosely connected to the seat, the stool is unstable. The same is true for onsite pretreatment, with 3 key factors for foodservice establishments forming the legs.