Torrington eateries pay plenty to trap fat, comply with rules

Out of the frying pan, into a sink full of soapy water and eventually down the drain. So goes fat, oil and grease from thousands of meals cooked every day in restaurants statewide.

Once that greasy dishwater goes down the drain, for many restaurants, it's the end of the story. But it's just the beginning for state and local officials, who for years have battled messy, expensive sewer backups inside pipes clogged with grease.

In Connecticut, careful study of what to do with the food service industry's slippery byproduct — fat, oil and grease — has resulted in a regulation that requires anyone who serves food in a licensed facility to invest in a high-tech version of what used to be a fairly low-tech device: the grease trap.

Ray Revaz, who owns The Nutmeg Grille in Torrington, has one of the low-tech varieties. It sits in the restaurant's dusty basement, far from Revaz's first-floor kitchen. When kitchen tools, dishes and pots and pans are washed, the grease heads down the pipe and is caught before it hits the sewer.

But that's not good enough for the city's Water Pollution Control Authority, which is requiring Revaz and dozens of other restaurants to install new, more efficient grease traps that can cost between $3,000 and $4,000. For a small restaurant such as the Nutmeg Grille, spending that much money to replace a trap that already prevents blockages inside the restaurant doesn't make much sense.





The Bigger Picture

But it does make sense if one looks at the bigger picture, said Bill Hogan, the state water pollution engineer for the Department of Environmental Protection.

Among the greatest source of problems in restaurants has been a small, narrow "shoe box" grease trap that sits at the bottom of three-welled sinks where greasy pots are scrubbed. Oftentimes, restaurants install those traps and never empty them. When filled, the shoe box traps stop collecting the grease and push it along with the water into the sewer system.

The general permit, which takes effect July 1, 2011, requires restaurants to install traps that employ a variety of technologies — including electric scrapers that skim out grease and a heater to maintain grease temperature for more effective removal — to prevent most grease from entering the sewage system.

Christopher Eucallitto, co-owner of the recently opened Pizzeria Marzano on East Main Street in Torrington, was required to install such a device in his kitchen. Paying for the high-tech version of the grease trap isn't as big a deal for new restaurants such as Eucallitto's, where the grease trap figures into the start-up costs.

"With this, you have to maintain it because it starts to smell," and the maintenance becomes more frequent because the device is more effective than traditional traps, Eucallitto said. He fills a few five-gallon buckets with the stinky stuff and hauls it to the water treatment plant in Torrington every few weeks.

Revaz, meanwhile, only has to empty his trap a few times each year. "I clean it myself — I know when it needs cleaning," Revaz said. "If the state wants it, why can't they help us out with the cost?"

To read the complete story see The Sunday Republican or our electronic edition at http://republicanamerican.ct.newsmemory.com.