Without the proper equipment, grease trap emptying is a fairly grim job. It stinks, it’s dirty, and depending on the trap itself, it might be too big to be maintained by you or your staff on-site. When you find your grease traps are solid, or you know it’s time to empty them, you can always give us a call, and we’ll do the dirty work for you. But how often should a grease trap be cleaned? What’s the most efficient way to get the job done — and is there any way to reduce the number of grease trap callouts required?
Grease Trap Emptying: How Often Will I Need Desludging?
This depends on the capacity and volume of your grease trap. You must remain compliant on your discharge license. We offer a free consultation with recommendations so you can decide what is best in your situation. For those who prefer a “set it and forget it” setup, we offer annual contracts and quarterly contracts. We come along to the tank and completely empty it. For smaller commercial traps with a high rate of usage, we may need to call out to scoop out the sludge every eight weeks or so manually in between full desludgings.
To help reduce the frequency of desludging, we can also add a bacterial product into the grease trap each night. This is a specialised strain of bacteria that will attack and consume a large amount of the grease layer. This reduces the build-up, so you don’t have to get it pumped out as often (though this doesn’t get rid of the food sludge at the bottom).
The 20% Rule
For commercial grease traps, there are very tight restrictions on just how high you can leave FOG to accumulate in your trap. Grease traps become increasingly ineffective if the FOG layer on top and the food sludge at the bottom exceeds 20-25% of the overall depth of the trap. Above this point, solid matter escapes into your pipework, potentially leading to blockages, and it will also begin polluting the environment. It will also be in breach of the license.
Environmentally Friendly Disposal
We take all of our waste for certified disposal at a licensed facility, and we prioritise renewable waste recovery and re-use over disposal. Any waste we take away for you will be traceable and certified back to you. Much of the waste we take away will be used for composting or anaerobic digestion, such as to create biogas to generate electricity.
If you’d like to discuss your situation with our team, or you’d like to take advantage of the free consultation, feel free to give us a call today on 1800 437 246
