Why It's Important
It is illegal to dispose of food waste into a public drain or sewer.
Businesses are liable to prosecution under Section 46 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968* and in England and Wales under Section 111 of the Water Industry Act 1992** which makes it an offence to discharge any substance into the public sewer.
Food waste disposers such as macerators*** cannot be used to discharge food waste to a drain or sewer in a non-rural area where a separate food waste collection service is available.
Disposing of food waste to the drain can also result in flooding your (and surrounding) business premises incurring unnecessary expense. There is evidence to suggest potato peel, potato starch, fat, oils and grease cause the majority of drain blockages and further legislation is underway to deal with this specific problem.
Don’t be caught out, install a Peel Tech today
*Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 – It shall, from 1 January 2016, be the duty of any person who produces food waste….to ensure that food waste is not deposited in a public drain or sewer, or in a drain or sewer that connects to a pubic drain or sewer.
**Section 111 of the Water Industry Act 1991 makes it an offence to discharge any matter which is likely to damage the sewer, interfere with the flow of its contents or affect the treatment and disposal of its contents.
***There is no legal requirement for macerators to be replaced. However, your business may choose to remove macerators to prevent staff using them and avoid the risk of a fine.
Fact
A sieve is not good enough as it can’t stop the micropeel and potato starch entering into the drains which can be around 60% of the total waste.
The Peel Tech allows waste free water to enter the drains keeping them legal, clean and odour free.
Please feel free to contact us for more information on the innovative Peel Tech filtration system.
