DBKK penalises seven shopowners for greasy traps
Published on: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
An EHD personnel points to the grease trap in this eatery as a kitchen staff looks on.
CITY HALL issued a total of RM1,900 in compounds to seven shopowners at a Luyang commercial centre recently for failing to abide by its requirements as regards the grease traps at their premises.
A spokeswoman for the agency’s Environmental Health Department (EHD) said six of these proprietors were penalised RM300 each under City Hall’s Food and Eating Premises By-Laws 1966, while the last found himself/ herself RM100 poorer for contravening City Hall’s Anti-Litter By-Laws 1984 (Amendment 2005).
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“They had failed to install their grease traps according to our specifications, with some even channelling the soiled water from their traps into the common drain outside their eateries,” she said.
Workers with City Hall’s sewage contractor carrying out sewer-rodding.
She said the offenders were taken to task because of the excessive amount of congealed fats, oils and grease (FOG) which was found clogging the sewer line servicing Lintas Plaza where their eateries were based.
“The volume of FOG removed from the pipes leading to the manholes in the area was enough to fill 41 black plastic bags.”
This came to light during an operation to check the grease traps around the commercial property earlier this month, according to her.
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She said 15 personnel with the EHD participated in this exercise.
“They were joined by five of their peers from the Engineering Department.”
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The spokeswoman said about 46 grease traps at 30 premises were scrutinised as part of this effort.
She said pamphlets on the agency’s requirements concerning the installation and maintenance of the grease traps at these premises, were handed out to each of the eatery owners.
Another health inspector has a word with this eatery employee about the pipe leading from the kitchen to the common drain behind the shop.
She stressed that the oily discharge entering the traps should be removed daily.
“Don’t hold off cleaning the traps only till it becomes necessary to do so.”
She said it was imperative that the unwanted cooking oil from commercial kitchens was dealt with responsibly.
“Proprietors should also avoid modifying the traps and adhere to our approved specifications.
“A ‘T-joint’ should also be put in place before the outlet from these gadgets and they should not be connected to the drainage servicing their premises.”
A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department said its maintenance crew serviced a total of 12 manholes around Lintas Plaza.
“They set about sewer-rodding the length of pipes underneath, after noticing that the sewage was past the brim of these structures,” he said.
“Bits of congealed FOG were among the foreign objects strained from the sewage.
“We suspect that some parties may have been flushing used cooking oil into the sewer-line.”
The spokesman said the contractor’s workers returned a day after the joint operation: to double-check on the level of effluent inside the manholes and again to determine the condition of the sewage pump-house servicing the property.
They found nothing amiss with these sewage assets in both instances, according to him.
“Nevertheless, we called on the contractor to make regular inspections of the pump-house, as well as the sewer-line servicing the centre.
“The maintenance staff was asked to reactivate the pump in case it tripped.”
On top of this, the spokesman said, the contractor was asked to step up efforts to clear the pipes as this would go some way to reducing the nuisance created by any overflowing manholes in the area.
“We are working together with the EHD to deal with the problems arising from the haphazard disposal of used cooking oil at kitchens in this area.”
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