The types of applications you’ll need and which governmental organization you have to work with for wastewater commercial discharge permitting depends on where you are. Some businesses do need to get state-issued permits, while others primarily need to be concerned with the county or city authorities.

In many cases, industrial and agricultural businesses are subjected to the more stringent federal or state guidelines because they’re frequently working with chemicals that pose a more serious risk to the environment than simple FOG waste.

County Commercial Discharge Permitting

Here’s an example of Fulton County’s application for a commercial waste discharge permit. It’s a relatively simple form available through the public works page on their website. 

There are a lot of relevant details you’ll need to fill out after the obligatory contact information details.

• Types of waste pretreatment systems your business currently has, like whether your business has a grease trap or oil separator and whether it is located inside or outside
• Frequency of pumping
• Capacity of your pretreatment systems, flow rate, etc.
• Whether you’ve added any kitchen equipment since you opened that may necessitate the addition of greater pretreatment capacity
• Your water and sewer service provider (city or county) 
• Contact info and FOG permit of your commercial waste transporter
• The company you’re using for grease and waste oil recycling

Southern Green Industries can make filling out these types of applications easier since we are properly licensed and have the facilities to handle both of those last two bullets. On that second page of the permit application, you can just put our contact information down in the commercial waste transporter section then write “SAME” in the Grease/Waste Oil Recycle Company section (per instruction six at the bottom of the form).

The commercial waste discharge permit application is actually a relatively straightforward page-and-a-half application. The permit fee will depend on the number of grease traps or “pretreatment systems” you have for your food service business.

Other FOG Regulatory Resources for Food Service Businesses in Georgia:

• Gwinnett County FOG Ordinances  
• DeKalb County Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) Management Program
• Cobb County Grease Management Information and Guidelines
• Atlanta Watershed Management Grease Management Information

Some Georgia counties and cities have slightly different processes for permitting and inspections. All have some kind of reinspection and permitting process whenever a restaurant either undergoes renovations or changes owners/operators.

If you are having a new grease trap installed, especially an exterior grease trap, you will want to check with your local inspectors on the inspection process. In many cases they’ll want to inspect the grease trap before backfilling occurs.

State Commercial Discharge Permitting

Agricultural, mining, manufacturing or livestock businesses may also require special National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems permits, but the average restaurant owner in Georgia won’t need to worry about those.

If you believe your business must adhere to these additional commercial discharge permitting processes you should first visit the Individual Permit Electronic Applications and Forms page on Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division website. There you’ll find a number of potentially relevant permits and resources depending on what type of business you’re running:

• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES)
• Land Application Systems (LAS)
• Industrial Pretreatment
• Underground Injection Control (UIC)

Get Help from Georgia’s Experts on Grease Trap Compliance

At Southern Green Industries we take pride in offering the greenest grease trap cleaning and fryer oil recycling services throughout the state of Georgia. There are several things we’re committed to doing for every business we serve:

• Help them always remain in compliance with their local regulating agencies
• Provide the manifests and details necessary to make their inspections fast and easy
• Ensure they avoid fees and penalties that can be incurred when you either neglect your grease trap cleaning or work with a company that doesn’t prioritize doing things the right way
• Answer any questions they may have about grease trap cleaning and regulations for their area
• Pay an honest price on waste oil with a transparent reporting dashboard

Many food service businesses that use us for grease trap cleaning also trust us with their waste oil recycling. Some fryer oil recyclers are less than transparent about how much you’re getting paid for your oil. We offer a turnkey solution that clearly tracks how much oil you use, how much we collect and the rate of return you’re getting for the waste oil we recycle.

If you have questions about any of our grease trap cleaning or waste oil recycling services, please give us a call at (404) 419-6887.