RE: [GreenYes] restaurant oil and grease

[Nicky Scott <NScott@devon.gov.uk>]

Funny i was just going to suggest a grease trap and then run your car on it!
Nicky Scott

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Doug Koplow [SMTP:koplow@indecon.com]
> Sent:	03 October 2002 19:48
> To:	Sharon_Gates@ci.long-beach.ca.us; greenyes@grrn.org
> Subject:	Re: [GreenYes] restaurant oil and grease
> 
> Having visited numerous sewage treatment plants, I concur with John
> Reindl's assessment that restaurant oil and grease is normally a
> collection system (pipes and lift station) problem, not a problem at the
> treatment plant.  This is different from automotive oils, which can be a
> problem at both the sewer and the treatment plant.
> 
> The recommendation from Long Beach is surprising.  Oil and grease is such
> a problem for sewers that many wastewater treatment districts nationwide
> handle their emissions as part of their pre-treatment program.
> (Pre-treatment ensures that damaging discharges are removed from the waste
> stream before they enter the sewer).  Often, restaurants must obtain
> special fats, oil, and grease (FOG) permits, and are subject to inspection
> by plant officials.  They must generally install grease traps to collect
> the waste prior to discharge.  This is standard equipment, and I do not
> believe particularly expensive for the restaurant.  If there are line
> clogs attributable to particular restaurants, some communities charge
> these costs back to the restaurant owners.  The financial costs are fairly
> effective at encouraging proper FOG management.
> 
> An interesting angle from the Greenyes perspective is what to do with the
> collected FOG.  It can be trucked for treatment at the wastewater
> treatment plant (as they are biodegradable).  However, there is an
> emerging option to have the FOG refined and blended with diesel fuel
> (making biodiesel).  Early tests suggest that biodiesel burns much more
> cleanly than regular diesel, even in existing diesel engines.  Thus, older
> vehicles (city buses are a good example) can reduce air pollution and FOG
> discharge to sewers all at once.
> 
> Hope this is helpful.
> 
> -Doug Koplow
> 
> _______________________________
> Doug Koplow
> Earth Track, Inc.
> 2067 Massachusetts Avenue - 4th Floor
> Cambridge, MA  02140
> Tel:  617/661-4700
> Fax: 617/354-0463
> 
> 
> 
> >>> <Sharon_Gates@ci.long-beach.ca.us> 10/03/02 10:59AM >>>
> The Long Beach Water Department has produced a brochure for restaurant 
> owners about BMPs for keeping fats, oils, and grease out of the sewers. 
> Unfortunately, one of their recommendations is that restaurants use 
> disposable paper products instead of washable dishware.  I would like to 
> recommend a change to their brochure, but wonder if this issue of "waste 
> water vs. solid waste" has been addressed somewhere else.  It seems that 
> most agencies are either waste water or solid waste, and very few deal 
> with both.  I tried contacting the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles 
> County (who do handle both solid waste and waste water) and the gentleman 
> with whom I spoke didn't seem to understand why recommending disposables 
> would be a problem.  His attitude seemed to be that since there was 
> landfill space, better to send stuff to the landfill than put it into the 
> sewer.  The gentleman e-mailed me factsheets that the Sanitation Districts
> 
> send out, and they go even further with disposables.  The Sanitation 
> Districts recommend the use of paper towels so that grease doesn't get 
> into the sewers from washing machine wastewater!  It doesn't require much 
> imagination to take this to its logical conclusion -- single-use 
> everything (clothing, equipment, cars, buildings...), throw it all away. 
> Come to think of it, that's not a far stretch for what we already have 
> :-(.
> 
> My instinct is to recommend that the Water Dept. just  remove any 
> reference to disposables.  It seems to me that following the other oil and
> 
> grease BMPs would keep grease out of the sewer without adding to the solid
> 
> waste stream.  Have other agencies addressed restaurant oil/grease while 
> also incorporating an understanding of solid waste reduction?  I would 
> like to be able to put my recommendation(s) in terms to which the Water 
> Department will be receptive.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help.
> 
> Sharon Gates
> Recycling Specialist
> City of Long Beach, California
> 562/570-4694
> 
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