Improving Selection of FOG Minimisation and Food Waste Composting Products

WRc are pleased to announce an extension of their WRc Approved™ scheme to include fats, oils and grease (FOG) minimisation and waste food composting products.

A 3 year WRc FOG research project highlighted that currently there are no internationally recognised standards for the smaller ‘in property’ separators/skimmers or dosing systems and it is unlikely that such standards will be drafted in the foreseeable future. This makes the selection of a suitable product extremely difficult to all but a few people involved in the industry.

Various sewerage undertakers are now implementing the recommendations of the WRc FOG project. From this, it has become apparent that a dilemma being faced by sewerage undertakers, environmental health officers and others involved in advising food service establishments (FSEs) is what to recommend. There are a number of manufacturers and suppliers of equipment who give good advice and will only install a device in an appropriate location. However, there are other suppliers who don’t, or don’t want to, understand the issues. This all too often results in poor advice being given and the investment made by the FSE, that was supposed to solve the FOG problem, does not work.

Accordingly, there is a need for an approval system to be developed. This would give the FSE customers, sewerage undertakers and public health officers a far higher degree of confidence that a product would work. It would also enable those manufacturers and suppliers giving good advice the ability to work on a level plating field. WRc is therefore launching an approvals service. This, inter alia, will investigate:

The robustness of the product
Whether the product does ‘what it says on the can’, i.e. does it perform to or better than the specification.
The advice given by the manufacturer/supplier with regards to the most suitable product/installation location, having taken into account the kitchen and drainage layout at the premises in question.
The standard of after sales service/maintenance advice.

There is an emerging market for products that compost food waste. These are particularly useful for FSEs where traditional composting or food waste collection is not practical and where an environmentally sustainable solution is sought. The WRc Approvals service will also cover these products.