Oil and Grease Recycling

Improperly managed oil and grease from restaurants is a significant problem for wastewater collection and treatment systems. Fats, oils, and greases coat, congeal, and accumulate in pipes, pumps, and equipment, leading to the hazardous (and costly) flow of waste grease into drain lines, sewer lines, lift stations, drain fields, and sewage treatment plants. Improper oil and grease disposal can result in high biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand levels, increased operating costs, and clogged collection systems. Some states have estimated that fully 30% of the 3,800 reported sewer system overflows are caused by fats, oils, ad greases blocking the sewers.

Restaurants are generally required to have grease traps. Grease traps are designed to prevent grease, oil, solids, and other debris from entering the waste stream, where it becomes a problem by clogging sewers and disrupting the water flow in the system. The grease trap captures those wastes and contains them until a rendering company can properly dispose them. A grease trap should be checked and maintained to ensure it is working properly. Backups, odors, and drainage problems are signs that the grease trap is not functioning as it should.

Through dry cleanup, the development of an efficient collection system and rendering program, wastewater problems can be avoided. Rendering companies or “grease recyclers” will accept oil, grease, and other animal byproducts, including deep fry fat and bones, thereby turning a nuisance waste material into a beneficial product such as animal feeds.

Benefits of Rendering

• Compliance – Many communities have sewer use ordinances that severely limit the allowable concentrations of oil and grease in wastewater. Many states ahve policies that require more
  communities to develop sewer use ordinances and wastewater discharge limitations. Penalties may be
  incurred when higher concentrations are found. Rendering prevents grease from reaching the sewer
  system and thereby helps restaurants maintain compliance.
• Cost Avoidance – The charge for pumping out a grease trap is considerably more than the service
  fee charged by a renderer. Furthermore, with dry cleanup and other source reduction techniques,
  many restaurants are reducing their water consumption and sewer use and are saving money. Rendering
  also helps restaurants avoid discharge penalty charges.
• Economic Incentives – Renderers’ service fees are low and often provided at no charge. In some cases,
  rendering companies are willing to pay for restaurant oil and grease.
• Environmental Savings – Natural resources and energy are conserved through source reduction and
  recycling. FOG recycling keeps these materials from clogging municipal sewer lines, as well as using valuable landfill.