THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
MAIN FEATURE
in accordance with BS EN 1825-2:2002 ‘or other effective means of grease removal’.
Following extraction, FOG must be stored in designated, sealable containers, and collected by a registered waste handling company. As well as restaurants and takeaways, the regulation applies to hotels and guest houses, bars, cafes and commercial kitchens, but, according to one academic study, this standard refers to large separators which are unsuitable for many FSEs where space is constrained, and without clarification of the phrase ‘other effective means’, many FSEs opt for “more convenient and less expensive techniques to the detriment of effective FOG control.”1
FOG management
Good kitchen management practices combined with onsite remediation techniques can minimise FOG discharges, but a sustainability report from Thames Water in 2018 showed that showed that 90% of FSEs did not have appropriate FOG management in place.
In the absence of any definitive legislation governing the management of FOG, a new Foodservice – Fat Oil Grease Management Guide, published in March 2023, sets out some essential principles that can be followed by any FSE to ensure they effectively manage the FOG they produce. This is intended to give confidence to site managers and owners to take direct responsibility for FOG management in their kitchens.
The review group that contributed to the document includes British Water, the Foodservice Equipment Association, the National Federation of Fish Fryers (NFFF), Policy Consulting Network, Southern Water and Ventilate Grease Control. The document is freely available on the Water UK website and has condensed some 320 pages of raw data and information from the hospitality, food service, water utility and grease management sectors into a clear and authoritative document.
Along with best practice guidelines and an overview of equipment, it includes a ‘critical path’ equipment installation guide for the hospitality sector, designed by Steve Williams, network protection manager at Southern Water. The guidelines say that “preventing FOG entering the sewer has a moral, ethical and business value in protecting foodservice operators from the potential damage FOG can cause, the potential loss of business and the risk of prosecution by water companies.”
PAS standards
Other FOG measures in the pipeline are two publicly available specification (PAS) standards being worked on by the British Standards Institution (BSI) that will regulate discharges from foodservice kitchens and a create a suitable test for grease management systems. PAS 406:2023 is a new standard for testing and rating procedures for commercial kitchen hydro- mechanical FOG interceptors and biological dosing systems, while PAS.409:2023 is a code of practice for the control and management of FOG in commercial kitchen wastewater.
Current efficiency testing for grease management systems relates to recovery of ‘marine diesel’ from cold water (BS EN1825), or an American standard for ‘melted pork lard’ from
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tepid water (PDI G101). Neither test represents the substances leaving commercial kitchens, which means manufacturers’ statements about the effectiveness of equipment may not be representative of these environments.
Steve Williams, Southern Water says of the new PAS standards, “This will hopefully drive innovation and improve the efficiency of grease management systems to collect more FOG – which can then go into the circular economy.”
Proper FOG management not only contributes to protecting the environment from unnecessary pollution, but can also support the bioeconomy by capturing and making best use of FOG as a valuable resource for renewable fuel and energy production, as well as biochemical products and materials.
Dishwasher debate
In addition to the FOG management guidelines and PAS standards, a debate about whether commercial dishwashers should be connected to grease management systems has also been resolved. All UK water and sewerage companies have agreed on a Dishwasher Position Statement, which was published on Water UK’s website in August 2023.
The single-page document says dishwashers are commonly used in many commercial kitchens for cleaning and sanitising cutlery, crockery and cookware, but there is a risk that their operation will allow food waste and FOG to enter the drain.
“Due to the nature of the discharge from dishwashers, ideally, they should be connected to a grease management system that is correctly sized to accommodate the volume and temperature of the discharge,” says the document.
The water companies say their preference is for dishwashers to be located downstream of a grease management system where the dishwasher is being used primarily as a sterilising unit, and kitchen best practice on grease management is being rigorously followed. Where a dishwasher is being used primarily
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