BLOCKAGES CAUSED by the discharge of fats, oils and grease into the capital’s sewers cost some half a million euro a year to remove, according to Dublin City Council.
More than a century of congealed fat built up in the city’s largely Victorian sewerage system was causing serious infrastructural problems including blocked pipes, basement flooding and sewer overflows, and has even caused the shutdown of waste-water treatment works.
One incident of a single fat-blocked drain in late 2007 required six weeks of work at a cost of €150,000, the council said.
The introduction in 2008 of a fats, oils and greases programme resulted in a considerable reduction in the frequency and severity of blockages, the council said. “On average, over 1,000 tonnes of waste fats, oils and greases have been prevented from entering the sewer network each year.”
Under the programme, food businesses must have a licence – costing until recently from €590 to €1,630 a year – which limits the amount of fat they can release. They must install grease traps, and ensure fat collected is properly disposed of. As of this year, businesses complying with their licences pay less.
However, with the council now seeking tenders to provide an inspection system to monitor discharges in the greater Dublin area – meaning more businesses would be hit with licence charges – the food service industry wants the licence scheme re-examined.
“The city council has taken a real sledgehammer approach here. Why, if you are compliant, should you have to pay monitoring charges every year when a self-regulatory system, which would ease the burden on the industry, could be easily established?,” said Restaurants Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins.
A system of supplying test samples, along with spot-checks carried out by bodies that already perform other checks on food premises, such as the Food Safety Authority and the Health Service Executive, would have the same preventive effect without the large expense for businesses already paying high rates to the local authority, Mr Cummins said.
The council said it has cut the costs to businesses since the programme started. In 2008 the majority of food premises had to pay €870; this year most fully compliant businesses who were up to date with payments would have to pay €330. Non-compliant premises could be charged €1,255.
