It's Not Just You: Ways Your Employees Are Making Your Company's Sewage Less Treatable

If you run an industrial factory or company that creates a lot of sewage or industrial waste that needs treatment, you need to watch out for something that often gets overlooked in the industrial setting—your employees' non-industrial sewage output. You can take all the care in the world to properly treat the industrial sewage you produce and still end up contaminating the land and water around you. Look at these hot spots and take action to stop your employees from creating more problems.

The Office Kitchen Drain

From peanut butter to salad dressing, the fatty foods your employees wash down the drain in the office kitchen sink can mess up plumbing anywhere from the sink drain all the way into city-owned pipes. If the sink drain actually leads to one of the sewage storage tanks on your property, the fat could harm any biofilm in the tanks used to treat some of the sewage. Remind people to discard of fatty foods in the trash, wiping utensils and bowls out with a paper towel before rinsing the items.

Medications

Medication disposal usually isn't a huge worry for businesses; employees take care of that at home. But if you have someone who has to take medication—prescription or otherwise—while at work, be sure they're not placing any of the medication down the sink drains. For example, someone who has to take cough syrup might pour too much into a measuring cup and dump the extra into the sink. Sewage treatment plants try to remove all of the medication before releasing treated water, but they do not always get all of it. This has become a major problem across the country. Be sure employees know that any medications need to stay out of the sink drain.

Non-Flushables

Another problem sewage treatment plants face is non-flushable items getting washed into the sewage lines when people flush them anyway. Moist wipes, feminine hygiene products, and other items can form clogs or be torn apart, with the small bits messing up treatment machinery. Post signs in the bathrooms reminding people not to flush more than toilet paper and waste.

You can make your company one of the more responsible ones around by ensuring that all sewage that leaves the company is something that a treatment plant can handle properly. If you have any questions, contact the plant that is handling your sewage-treatment needs now or call a company such as Drain Store.

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