Grease Trap Cleaning Tampa works with St. Petersburg kitchens under the city's Grease Management Program. Every food service facility gets a Grease Discharge Permit with a three-year term, is inspected at least once a year, pumps its interceptor at least monthly, cleans traps weekly, and files a quarterly report on a city form.
The program
St. Petersburg amended its sewer use ordinance in June 2002 to require grease removal devices in every food service facility, plus regular cleaning and reporting. The city’s Water Resources Department runs the Grease Management Program through permits, education, inspections and enforcement. Its FOG manual cites up to 35 recorded sewer blockages a month in the city, many caused by grease.
This guide follows the city’s Fats, Oil and Grease Best Management Practices Manual. The city has said the ordinance is being revised, so check the current text with the program before relying on any single figure.
The Grease Discharge Permit
Every food service facility is issued a Grease Discharge Permit with a three-year term. Permitted facilities are inspected at least once a year and receive an annual invoice for the permit fee. Inspections may or may not be announced in advance, and refusing an inspector access is a violation.
Cleaning and pumping
- Grease traps: opened and cleaned at least once a week, recorded in a bound logbook. No variance is available.
- Grease interceptors: pumped out and cleaned by a permitted hauler at least once a month.
- Variance: $275 fee, with a maximum of 180 days between pump-outs.
- The whole contents must come out, with the walls, floor, baffles and pipework scraped. Returning gray water to the interceptor is prohibited.
Records and reports
Keep a bound logbook of all maintenance, a written cleaning protocol for the trap, and a file with your plumbing schematics, the permit and every service invoice. File a quarterly report on the city’s form showing when the interceptor was serviced or repaired, who did it, and how. Reports more than 30 days late cost $50.
What the inspector does
The inspector looks at equipment, food prep and storage areas, opens the trap or interceptor, asks for your records, and asks how your staff follow the city’s best practices. Deficiencies are listed in a written notice with a re-inspection date. If they aren’t fixed by then, you’re billed for that re-inspection and every one after it.
Contact
Grease Management Program, Environmental Compliance Division: (727) 892-5622, Grease@stpete.org. See St. Petersburg for local service.
Bottom line
In St. Petersburg: hold a current Grease Discharge Permit, pump interceptors monthly, clean traps weekly, keep a bound logbook and written protocol, and file the quarterly report on time. For help staying on schedule, call (727) 476-9241.