Pre-treatment requirements

Pre-treatment of trade waste ensures wastewater discharged from your premises meets our requirements and prevents contaminants that can harm public health and the environment from entering our wastewater system.

Your trade waste permit will indicate whether you need to pre-treat your waste. The following fixtures and products are acceptable for pre-treating your waste:

• Passive grease arrestors
• Active grease arrestors
• Oil-water separators
• Pits and traps
• Chemical and biological additives
• Filters, macerators and water based paint cleaning systems

Food waste disposal

Food waste disposal units (also known as macerators or garbage grinders) are under-sink devices that grind food waste into small particles.

Under Water Services Regulations, you're prohibited to install or run food waste disposal units. Food waste is better disposed of via the solid waste disposal system.

Commercial food waste management

Commercial food waste management machines generate trade waste of varying quality and quantity. If you plan to install a commercial food waste management machine (that either dehydrates, dewaters or digests food waste) then you need to understand the trade waste approval requirements for each of these types of machines prior to connecting to our wastewater system.

Unapproved fixtures or products

If you install unapproved fixtures or products that don't meet our standards, you'll be required to replace these at your own expense.

If you're proposing to install an unapproved fixture or product, we'll firstly need to review this along with your trade waste permit application. You may also need to clearly demonstrate that the fixture or product is suitable for its intended use by submitting a trade waste pre-treatment product approval application form.

Decommissioning a pre-treatment device

If you plan to cancel you trade waste permit and/or shut down your pre-treatment device, you need to let us know before doing so. If you're not the property owner, you'll need to provide written permission from the owner to disconnect the fixture.

A licensed plumber will have to come to remove the fixture, bridge the fixture or re-route your wastewater lines to by-pass the fixture. Find a licensed waterwise plumber near you.

If a fixture, such as a grease arrestor or dilution pit, is shut down but left in place, it must first be cleaned and pumped out by a licensed liquid waste contractor.