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Grease Trap
Keep your kitchen drains flowing freely — professional grease trap emptying across Lancashire for catering businesses of every size.
If you run a café, restaurant, pub kitchen, school canteen, or any other food-preparation operation in Lancashire, fats, oils, and grease (FOG) are an unavoidable by-product of the work you do. Left unmanaged, that FOG cools and solidifies inside your pipework, building up layer by layer until a blockage — or a costly overflow — becomes inevitable. A grease trap sits in the drainage run between your kitchen appliances and the main sewer or off-mains system, intercepting the FOG before it causes real harm. But the trap itself only works if it is emptied and serviced on a regular basis, and that is precisely where Lancashire Septics Ltd comes in.
Our grease trap emptying service covers the full county — from the busy food and hospitality scene in Preston and Blackpool through to smaller rural businesses in the Ribble Valley, the Fylde coast, and the market towns of the Forest of Bowland. Whether your trap is tucked under a commercial sink unit or buried outside in a chamber, our experienced operatives arrive in a fully equipped tanker, pump out the accumulated waste efficiently, and leave your system ready to perform again. We handle all the collected material responsibly, disposing of it through licensed waste-handling facilities in line with current Environment Agency guidance.
For businesses connected to the public sewer, the Water Industry Act 1991 places a duty on trade premises not to discharge anything that could obstruct or damage the network. FOG is one of the most common causes of sewer blockages in the UK, and water companies are increasingly active in enforcing compliance — meaning a neglected grease trap is not just a hygiene risk, it can attract formal enforcement action or fixed penalty notices. For sites on off-mains drainage, the situation is equally important: fat and grease entering a septic tank or treatment plant can destroy the biological process that makes the system work, leading to expensive remediation. Regular emptying keeps you on the right side of both sets of obligations.
We will work with you to establish a servicing schedule that fits your operation. A busy restaurant kitchen in Chorley or a hotel in Lancaster will have very different throughput from a small tearoom in Garstang, so there is no single answer that suits everyone. During your first visit, our team will assess your trap size, condition, and usage pattern, then recommend how frequently it needs to be emptied — typically anywhere from every few weeks for high-volume kitchens to every few months for lighter-use sites. We can set up a rolling contract so you never have to remember to rebook, or we can simply turn up when you call us.
Beyond emptying, we can also clean and inspect the trap itself, clear any associated pipework that has started to slow, and advise you if the trap is showing signs of wear or is simply undersized for your current operation. If a new or upgraded trap is needed, we can help with that too. Our aim is to be a single point of contact for everything grease-trap related, so you spend less time chasing contractors and more time running your business.
Why choose Lancashire Septics Ltd
- Full-county coverage across Lancashire — Preston, Blackpool, Lancaster, Burnley, Chorley, and everywhere in between
- Licensed waste carrier: all collected FOG removed and disposed of to Environment Agency standards
- Flexible scheduling — one-off call-outs or rolling maintenance contracts tailored to your throughput
- Trap inspection and pipework clearance included on request, not charged as hidden extras
- Helps you meet Water Industry Act obligations and avoid enforcement action from your water company
Pricing
| Option | Up to | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small Up to 5,000L | 5,000 litres | £245 |
| Medium Up to 9,000L | 9,000 litres | £365 |
| Large Up to 21,500L | 21,500 litres | £695 |
| Articulated Up to 29,000L | 30,000 litres | £950 |
What's included
Routine grease trap emptying
Scheduled pump-out of accumulated fats, oils, and grease from commercial kitchen traps, keeping your drainage system compliant and flowing freely. We agree a servicing frequency that matches your kitchen's output.
See our Septic Tank Emptying service →
Emergency grease trap clearance
If a blocked or overflowing trap has brought your kitchen to a halt, we offer emergency call-out across Lancashire to get you back up and running as quickly as possible.
See our NGI Empty service →
Trap inspection and condition report
Our operatives check the structural condition of your trap and connecting pipework during or after emptying, flagging any issues before they become expensive problems.
Grease trap maintenance contracts
A rolling service agreement means your trap is emptied and checked on a fixed schedule without you needing to lift a finger — ideal for multi-site operators or busy kitchens that cannot afford downtime.
See our NGI Empty service →
Frequently asked questions
- How often does a grease trap need to be emptied?
- It depends on the size of the trap and the volume of cooking you do. A high-volume restaurant kitchen might need emptying every four to eight weeks, whereas a smaller café or staff canteen could go three to four months between services. During your first visit we will assess your specific setup and give you a realistic recommendation rather than a one-size-fits-all answer.
- How do quotes and pricing work?
- We do not publish fixed prices online because the cost varies depending on trap size, accessibility, how full the trap is, and how far our tanker needs to travel within Lancashire. The quickest way to get a figure is to email us at support@lancashireseptics.co.uk or call +441616947241 with a few basic details — trap size if you know it, your postcode, and roughly how long it has been since the last service. We will come back to you with a clear, no-obligation quote.
- Is it a legal requirement for my business to maintain a grease trap?
- While there is no single law that specifically mandates grease traps for every premises, the Water Industry Act 1991 prohibits businesses from discharging anything into the public sewer that could cause a blockage or nuisance — and FOG is one of the most common culprits. Your local water company or environmental health officer may also require a trap as a condition of a trade effluent consent. Keeping it properly maintained is the simplest way to demonstrate that your business is taking its obligations seriously.
- What happens to the waste once it has been collected?
- Lancashire Septics Ltd is a registered waste carrier, and all FOG collected from your trap is transported to a licensed treatment and disposal facility. You will receive a waste transfer note for your records, which is useful if your business is ever subject to a compliance audit by the Environment Agency or your local authority.
- Can you service a grease trap that is outside in a buried chamber?
- Absolutely — in fact, most larger commercial grease traps are installed as external underground chambers rather than under-sink units. Our tanker vehicles are equipped to access and pump out both internal and external traps, and our team will reinstate the access cover and surrounding area tidily before they leave.
- What if my grease trap is damaged or too small for our current kitchen output?
- We will tell you honestly if we think the trap needs repair or replacing rather than just re-booking you for another empty. If an upgrade or new installation is needed, we can discuss your options and point you in the right direction — our goal is to sort the problem properly, not just to keep turning up and charging for a service that is not solving the underlying issue.
Get in touch
Tell us what you need
Fill in the form and we'll be in touch within one working day with a quote or booking slot. For emergencies please call us - it's the fastest way to get a truck on site.
Phone: 0161 694 7241