GREASE GUARDIAN COLES AUSTRALIA Author:
SYDNEY WATER
Since November 2007, Australian supermarket giants Coles have installed Grease Guardians to the drain outlets of their chicken ovens in 85 stores from Sydney to Newcastle. These installations have resulted in a considerable saving for Coles. This is due to the reduction of blocked drains between the delicatessens and the grease traps. More importantly these installations are benefiting our environment.
A Grease Guardian is an automatic fat, oil and grease removal device installed at the source of the problem. When waste enters the Grease Guardian, solids are collected in a strainer basket. The wastewater continues to a second chamber where the grease, fat and oil are separated from the water. In this phase, the treated water passes under a baffle and out of the unit while the grease, fat and oil rise to the top of the chamber where, through a periodic system of heating and skimming, they are removed and collected into a container. Each day, deli staff spend a few minutes emptying the removable solids basket and plastic grease container. This grease can be stored for collection by a Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW authorised transporter.
By removing grease on a daily basis the following benefits are achieved: reducing the frequency of drain blockages caused by congealed grease and fat reducing the frequency of grease trap pump outs. To date, the Grease Guardians are reported to be performing well. “We’ve been really pleased with the success of the Grease Guardian in our stores. It’s been good for our business and, more importantly, delivers a better outcome for the environment. We’ve got Grease Guardians installed in 85 stores in NSW and its become part of the standard store design for our new and refurbished stores” Tim Boyce, General Manager Development, Coles Supermarkets said. When you consider that each of the 85 stores with a Grease Guardian is collecting on average 50 litres of grease a week, it means that over 220,000 litres of grease can now be recycled each year!
