FOG Best Management Practices

Fats, oils, and grease (FOG) can have a negative impact not just on your business but also on wastewater collection and treatment systems. While grease traps are an important and necessary tool for any commercial kitchen, your first line of defense against FOG getting into your pipes begins with you and your staff. This is why it is critical that your commercial kitchen establish, enact, and enforce best management practices for FOG.

We at ProGrease provide a number of grease trap services, including custom-tailored maintenance programs where we can help your business develop its own set of best management practices. Contact us today to learn more!

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Best Management Practices for Fats, Oils, and Grease

Best management practices are a series of guidelines and prevention designed to help reduce both the discharge of FOG into local sewers and ongoing maintenance costs. By training your staff to follow these steps, you can extend the life of your grease traps, decrease the amount of maintenance required, and avoid potentially serious fines and repair costs.

Here are some examples of best management practices you can enact in your food service establishment:

  • “Dry wipe” pots, pans, and cookware before washing – Most oil used in cooking will likely end up in a landfill. By dry wiping your cookware with a paper towel and placing it in the garbage, the FOG will not be sent to your grease trap or discharged into the sewer.

  • Install screens and strainers on all drains – Even a small amount of solid food waste can cause major drainage problems given enough time. Screens and strainers help catch and prevent solid food waste before it enters your drains and blocks up your pipes.

  • Collect and recycle used cooking oil – Collecting cooking oil in containers after use prevents it from ever even making it to the sink. There are four recycling centers within 5 miles of Poughkeepsie that will take cooking oil and other waste substances across Dutchess County.

  • Pre-rinse dishes in water temperatures less than 140° F – Water exceeding 140° F will dissolve any fats, oils, or grease, allowing them to flow down your drains. By using colder water when pre-rinsing, FOG will congeal, allowing it to be collected and disposed of before it enters your dishwasher.

  • Routine grease trap cleaning and maintenance – Having your grease trap professionally and routinely serviced helps to keep it functioning as it should, so that your kitchen can continue to run unabated without fear of surprise clogs, blockage, repairs, or fines.

Frequently Asked Questions

When it comes to fully pumping and cleaning your grease trap, it costs $295.00 to pump anything up to 1000 gallons and $350.00 to pump a 1250-gallon tank.

To ensure no FOG or waste is released into local sewers or POTWs, the Department of Health recommends having your grease trap pumped and cleaned every 4 to 6 months.

There is no difference between the two. A grease interceptor is just an industry term for a grease trap.

Grease traps are needed to stop fats, oils, and grease (FOG) from getting out to the sewer and/or leach field.

Grease trap size very much depends on the type of business. For example, a coffee shop could be fine with a 50-gallon trap under the sink whereas a restaurant that serves food and washes a lot of dishes would likely need a 1000 to 2000-gallon trap.

Usually never, especially with proper maintenance. Unless you see a lot of cracks in the concrete or baffle deterioration on the outlet side, your grease trap should not need to be replaced.

Yes. While grease traps can collect FOG before it can get to the sewer, their ability to do so diminishes the fuller they get. Grease can also cause substantial clogs in the plumbing from time to time, resulting in potential damages and backups. Clogs can be removed via jetting, but it would be at an additional cost.

ProGrease serves Albany NY as well as the greater Poughkeepsie area, including Hudson, Kingston, and Newburgh.