How Grease Trap Contents Are Reused and Resold

August 24, 2018

In restaurants and food processing facilities, oils and fats used for cooking would ideally be separated out and stored for recycling before they ever reach the kitchen sink. Stored cooking oil, also known as “yellow grease,” has immense value because it has very little water content and can be recycled into biodiesel. Unfortunately, not all fats, oils and grease (FOG) are able to be stored in this way. Some inevitably ends up being directed to the sewer system.

When FOG goes down the drain, it ends up in a restaurant’s grease trap. The FOG mixed with water enters the grease trap and floats to the top of the water, solidifying over time as water content is flushed out to a wastewater treatment facility. After some time, the restaurant will need to hire a grease trap cleaning service in St. Bernard, LA to empty its grease trap and transport the “brown waste” elsewhere.

Brown waste used to be taken directly to landfills. However, as new technology emerges, more waste facilities are actually able to treat grease trap waste and reuse it as composted material because the fats contain high amounts of energy.

Process of grease trap waste recycling

When it’s time for grease trap cleaning in St. Bernard, LA, a restaurant will call its waste removal company. Professionals will visit the location of the restaurant and pump out all the FOG waste from the grease trap using a large hose. All of this waste enters a truck in liquid form. After the grease trap is thoroughly cleaned, the grease trap cleaning company will take the waste to a treatment facility.

There are a few different ways grease trap waste can be recycled. One method involves the waste being stored in pits, where water has an opportunity to evaporate and the FOG waste can solidify. This solidified waste can be mixed with sawdust, moss and wood chips containing microbes and left to compost. This material can be applied to agricultural fields as a fertilizer, boosting organic yields.

Another, newer method involves separating the brown grease from water and treating it to produce fuel called biodiesel. Improved technology has allowed companies to use FOG-to-fuel processes to purify the material enough to meet stringent fuel standards.

Benefits of hiring a company that promotes grease trap recycling

FOG waste removal restrictions have been getting increasingly tightened by government-run wastewater facilities, making it more difficult for your grease trap cleaning service in St. Bernard, LA to dispose of grease trap waste. It’s important that you hire a company that will take your grease trap waste to a recycling facility so it can provide environmental benefits and not overflow landfills. Grease trap waste recycling not only helps in the agricultural sector, but also minimizes sewage blockages and waste entering our water sources.

Safeway Used Oil and Grease puts a heavy focus on environmentally-conscious FOG waste and oil removal services. Within our 20 years of experience, we’ve offered commercial businesses and restaurants the ability to get rid of and recycle their used cooking oil, motor oil and grease trap waste. Call today to learn more about our grease trap cleaning in St. Bernard, LA.

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