Wastewater
Various activities (e.g. washing food material, defrosting, cooking and cleaning dining utensil) inside a restaurant generate wastewater.
Restaurants which generate and discharge wastewater should apply for the Discharge Licence under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance and comply with the conditions and discharge point specified in the licence.
The wastewater from restaurants must be discharged to public foul sewers. Generally, the wastewater from restaurants should be treated before discharging to attain the standards specified in the licence, e.g.
Wastewater => screening & oil separation (e.g. grease trap) => public foul sewage
Wastewater generated from restaurants contains oil and grease. If treated improperly, the oil and grease will be accumulated in the drains causing pipe blockage and odour problem.
To effectively reduce the oil and grease in the wastewater, restaurants should adopt appropriate mitigation measures (e.g. avoid over-using cooking oil) and install pollution control equipment (e.g. grease trap).
To better control the wastewater pollution problem, and to reduce water usage cost, Sewage Charge and Trade Effluent Surcharge, restaurants should consider to implement suitable water saving measures (e.g. adopt environmental-friendly cold water thawing practice) and devices (e.g. water saving throttle).
