What Is Trade Waste & How Does It Apply to Businesses?

Food businesses are responsible for producing ‘trade waste’, which is the wastewater produced from the operations of a business. Trade waste is discharged into the sewer system and is more contaminated than normal domestic sewerage as it can potentially contain chemicals, metals, high organic load, fats, greases or detergents and pose a risk to our environment, therefore they must be treated differently to regular household sewerage.

A commercial kitchen is an area most notorious for producing trade waste, for obvious reasons. Food is washed off cookware and dishware, not to mention businesses typically use a lot of soap, grease/oil and produce food waste that ends up in the drains. This waste accumulates and hardens over time, causing expensive blockages and damage to drain pipes.

A grease trap and other apparatus can be installed to separate fats, water, and food solids to reduce the impact of trade waste on our sewerage systems and the environment. The water enters the grease trap and as the water cools down, any fat, oil, solids and grease float to the top of the trap where they are separated, cleaned and pumped back out at a later date. A grease trap will filter the majority of solids and, but it won’t remove all of the waste as small particles still make it through the trap and into the sewerage system.

All food businesses producing trade waste are required to install a grease trap to help prevent blockages and other issues caused by these materials making their way into the sewer.

Richmond Plumbing and Roofing cover all general plumbing and are qualified to install grease traps in all commercial businesses. We service Richmond, East Melbourne, Collingwood, Balwyn, Abbotsford, Fitzroy, Clifton Hill, Northcote, Thornbury, Kew, Hawthorn, Toorak, South Yarra and surrounding suburbs.

Contact us today for comprehensive grease trap installation services for your business.