Why it's Important
SEPA now have new powers to impose a fine up to 10,000 for anyone who doesn't comply with the new Scottish government regulation.
It is illegal to dispose of food waste into a public drain or 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 seperate food waste collection service is available.
There is no legal requirement for macerators to be removed however your business may choose to remove macerators to prevent staff using them and avoid the risk of a fine.
Businesses are also liable to prosection under Section 46 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 which makes it an offence to discharge any substance into the public sewer likely to obstruct its free flow. Disposing of food waste to the drain could also result in flooding your (and surrounding) business premises.
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.
Facts
The average chip shop peels 10 x 25 kg bags of main crop potatoes a day = around 420 kg of potato peel and starch goes down the drain per week.
A sieve is not good enough as it can't stop the potato starch going into the drainage system and this equates to approx 1/3 of the total waste.
