[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Direct Impact of FOG

  • Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG) is a major nuisance and becomes a problem when people and companies dispose of it improperly: pouring it down the drain, sending it to landfills, or dumping it outside
  • When people and industry improperly dispose of FOG by dispersing it into the sewer system, it coagulates, sticks to other debris, hardens, and causes blockages, which lead to Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO’s)
  • FOG requires special handling and is the only recyclable that is a nuisance to the lakes streams and rivers
  • SSO’s cause major raw sewage to back up into homes, leak into lakes, streams and rivers, and spread major airborne diseases
  • Every one liter of FOG spilled, 1 million liters of water is contaminated. The EPA estimates that 75% of U.S. sewer systems are working at half capacity due to clogs.

The FOG Nuisance

  • FOG is a big enough problem for every municipality. GHI has low cost to no cost solutions to meet their needs. GHI has insight into some of the complications regarding nonintrusive FOG disposal legislation, budgetary constraints, concerns over public mandates of FOG Collection services, how to integrate FOG collection into existing government operated sanitation services and how to offset costs of the FOG collection process
  • How much FOG is out there? Used cooking grease and oil has long been a tremendous burden for city, county and, state sewers, as well as the environment. The average household uses about 4.8 gallons of grease per year. However, in the south, especially in counties like Dekalb County, residents could produce as much as 78 gallons per year.

Reported Costs and Hidden Costs

  • $50 billion: $25 billion to keep the lines open and $25 billion in treating airborne illnesses resulting from raw sewage spills caused by FOG
  • Clogged sewer lines stemming from improper disposal of FOG are es timated by the EPA to cause over 40,000 SSO’s per year
  • There are hidden costs in the cost of treating FOG and repairing sewer lines for taxpayers and residents
  • According to a 2004 report to Congress by the EPA: 3 to 10 billion gallons of untreated wastewater enters our streets, oceans, lakes, estuaries, rivers and ground water annually.
  • Between 1.8 and 3.5 million citizens become ill by swimming in contaminated waters incurring a 28 billion dollar economic loss annually.
  • Sewer plants consume 3% of our nation’s electrical consumption

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]