Grease Trap Cleaning in St. Petersburg, FL

Grease trap rules for St. Petersburg kitchens

St. Petersburg amended its sewer use ordinance in June 2002 to require grease removal devices in every food service facility, along with regular cleaning and reporting. The city's Water Resources Department runs the program through a Grease Discharge Permit with a three-year term, at least one inspection a year, and an annual permit invoice. The city's own FOG manual cites up to 35 recorded sewer blockages a month, many caused by grease. The city has said the grease ordinance is being revised to reflect Florida's 2022 grease-waste statute, so check the current text with the Grease Management Program at (727) 892-5622.

Under the city's FOG manual, under-sink traps are cleaned at least weekly and recorded in a bound logbook, with a written cleaning protocol kept on file. Interceptors are pumped out and cleaned by a permitted hauler at least once a month. A variance from the monthly interval costs $275 and cannot exceed 180 days, and there is no variance for trap cleaning frequency. Every quarter, the facility files a city report showing when the interceptor was serviced or repaired, who did it, and how the pump-out was done.

Downtown and Central Avenue kitchens often have limited rear access, tight alleys and metered street parking, so booking pump-outs before deliveries and the lunch rush keeps the visit short. Crews reach downtown on I-275 and the I-375 and I-175 spurs, and the 34th Street (US-19) corridor and Tyrone along Tyrone Boulevard. Because the program asks for quarterly reports, the manifest from every monthly visit matters as much as the pump-out itself.