


Fat, oil and grease when cooled congeal, harden and stick to the inner lining of drainage pipe restricting wastewater flow and blocking pipes. As a result, there are a number of legal requirements that have been put in place to help prevent fat, oil and grease entering drainlines and sewerage systems. Water companies, landlords, the local government and the environmental agency can all prosecute sites for having improper waste management.

Grease traps are increasingly becoming a key feature in commercial kitchens across the UK and Ireland, with many landlords now requiring grease traps to be installed to prevent FOG (fats, oils, and grease) from entering the sewer water. However, like many appliances within a kitchen, grease traps require regular maintenance and servicing to keep running constantly and efficiently. Here we detail why and how we can help.

With the festive season now getting into full swing, restauranteurs will be entering one of the busiest periods of the year, with more covers served and Christmas menu’s, containing roasts, rich in fats, oils & grease appearing.
This makes it particularly important to ensure that grease removal equipment is installed and properly maintained in your kitchen, in order to avoid the risk of expensive drainage call outs, or worse yet, site closures over the festive period...

For any commercial caterer, the installation of a grease trap to manage fat, oil & grease is of utmost importance in the day to day running of your site(s). Failure to do so can result in a range of problems, including blocked drains, pest infestations, fire hazards, bad smells, and even fines, site closures and prosecutions in more extreme cases.

Although many restaurants and caterers focus on the initial cost of a grease trap when deciding whether one is needed and which to purchase, this is often a mistaken approach to take. While the upfront cost of a grease trap may be off-putting to many smaller venues, or even larger chains with multiple sites requiring grease removal equipment installed, fitting a grease trap is actually a money saving commitment.

RGR look at the impact of the restaurant industry on London's ageing sewer system, and how a lack of adequate grease trap or grease removal equipment on many sites is contributing to the fatberg epidemic, which has been plagueing London's sewers in recent years. Read more to find out what a fatberg is, and what your commercial kitchen can do, to reduce the risk of contributing to these costly behemoths lurking beneath London's streets.

The most commonly searched query about grease traps is not where to buy a grease trap, or where to turn to get a grease trap cleaned or serviced, but rather ‘how does a grease trap work?’. While this statistic may sound surprising to those in the know about grease traps, it reveals the lack of awareness that still surrounds them, despite grease traps having been used to protect responsible commercial kitchens and caterers around the world for more than a century.