San Francisco asks eateries to trap grease, save sewers

[marmar]

from the San Francisco Chronicle:




S.F. asks eateries to trap grease, save sewers
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, March 18, 2010


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There are plenty of undesirable things in San Francisco's sewers. But one, in particular, has grabbed the attention of city officials: FOG.

Not to be confused with the city's weather element, this FOG is a sewer-industry acronym for fats, oils and grease.

The stuff clogs sewer pipes, produces a nose-holding stench and attracts rats and roaches.

Every year, about 4 million gallons of FOG is discharged into the city's wastewater system, costing the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission roughly $3.5 million. Of the 6,000 sewer blockages the agency responds to annually, almost half are related to grease. In a city with more than 2,500 eateries packed into 47 square miles, the restaurant industry is a major contributor to the problem.

Catching the grease

In response, the agency wants to make what essentially has been good-faith compliance with grease-trapping rules mandatory for restaurants that produce the sewer-blocking compounds. The goal is to have full compliance by mid-2012. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/MNQ61CHD79.DTL

[Unrepentant Fenian]

1. Seems like a good idea to me. nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. If Florida does the same, there will be no more Rush Limbaugh nt

[NYC_SKP]

3. That's 4 million gallons of BioFuel. n/t

[jody]

4. Truck tankers full of used grease from various CA eateries go every day to AZ and are fed to hogs.

I assume that adds a special zing to bacon and ham.

[EFerrari]

5. Good! One thing SF does pretty well, imo.

I once reported a crew for pouring paint into the sewer and instead of citing them, they were all ARRESTED.

[msongs]

6. great, give em a tootbrush and put down in the sewers to clean up lol nt

[EFerrari]

7. No kidding. It was @ 48th and Judah, a block from the beach.

@ssholes!

[Travis_0004]

8. I'm a bit suprised this isn't happening already

Not only does throwing grease down the sewer hurt your own drains (which you have to pay to fix), grease has a value, and it has for quite a while. My first job was at McDonalds, and I remember taking the old grease out back to a big container, which a company picked up every few months, and they paid us for it. Its not a lot of money, but every little bit helps.

[LeftyMom]

10. These days people making biodiesel would also be happy to come get it.

[canetoad]

9. Years ago, in another life

I was head chef in a very large sporting club. Naturally we had a tanker visit periodically to pump out the kitchen grease traps.

On one occasion I got talking to the tanker operator and asked him what happened to the grease, which smells as bad as almost anything you could imagine. He said, quite seriously, that his company treated it then shipped it to Korea for use in cosmetics.

Further research shows this is true.

A FACT SHEET FOR Restaurant Oil and Grease Rendering

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/03/02791.pdf

How is Waste Oil and Grease Recycled?
Waste oil and grease is tested for pesticides and other contaminants.
Material is placed in a settling tank to remove
solids, heated in a vacuum to volatize impurities and is then
sold to companies for use as animal feed additives, in soap
production, oils, cosmetic and skin care products, and in
composting.