Don’t let raw ingredients go
to waste – managing trade
effluent
Many companies are unaware of the environmental damage and big fines they will face if site
effluent is not disposed of appropriately. In this article, Dave Walker, Commercial Director at
Detectronic, and with over 25 years’ experience in Trade effluent management, offers some advice
on understanding what your site is discharging and keeping on the right side of the law.
It’s easy to see how trade effluent measures to monitor and manage Material”. In addition to the sensor
could fall down the list of priorities trade effluent and water consumption technology being deployed, a simple
when you are managing a busy food more efficiently and often saving balancing tank arrangement will be
or drink processing site. However, them money too. used to hold back higher strength
failing to stay within the limits of your
agreed trade effluent consent could
land you in deep water with expensive
environmental clean-up costs and
fines in excess of £40,000.
Our latest range of sensors and
equipment can monitor flows of
water, waste water, surface water
and quality including everything from
liquors before releasing them back
into the final effluent stream when
concentrations have fallen below a
safe level.
oils, organics and suspended solids to By understanding the complex
The good news is that once you pH, Chlorine, Ammonia, Nitrates and effluent streams on site, working
understand the rules and what metals. with production managers and
your consent levels are, it’s fairly segregating the waste in this way,
straightforward to keep on top of it. spikes in the COD are easily removed
in a cost efficient way producing a
So, what is Trade Effluent?
more polished trade effluent for final
“Trade Effluent is any liquid waste,
discharge.
other than surface water and
Removing the spikes reduced the daily
domestic sewage that is discharged in
a public sewer”. Sites within the food
and drink sector may have fats, oils
and grease, chemicals, detergents,
solids, heavy metal rinses or food
wastes contaminating their waste
water.
A consent agreement between the
discharger and sewage undertaker
determines the volume and
concentration of materials a company
is allowed to release into the waste
water discharge stream.
Detectronic works with companies to
keep them compliant by introducing
24 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
MSFM IMAGE
By helping a recent processing plant
take control of its waste water and
reduce the strength of effluent
produced following repeated breaches
of their consent, the company is able
to benefit from annual savings in
excess of £110,533 / Year.
To maintain these savings and ensure
continuous environmental compliance,
sensors are to be installed which will
monitor and trigger basic screening of
the processes waste carryover “Raw
load from 1696 Kg/day to 1187 Kg/d
saving the company £110,533/Yr*
Releasing harmful waste doesn’t just
affect the environment; it damages
reputations and results in severe
penalties, which are ever increasing.
Don’t let the next big fine be yours. It
takes just a few simple steps to take
control of your trade effluent.
*For client security the data used
in this article has been changed for
illustrative purpose only.