craigdailypress.com

The Craig City Council will take another look at options concerning the disposal of grease at the wastewater treatment plant tonight.

The issue came before the council at its last meeting Feb. 28, when public works Director Bill Earley pointed out the difficulties the plant was having with processing grease, especially in the winter.

"We can't handle the grease the way things are now," Earley said.

Options the council is considering include charging more than 2 1/2 cents a gallon to treat the waste grease, which comes mostly from restaurants, and no longer taking waste from out-of-county locations.

The Meeker plant doesn't accept grease, and the plants in Rifle and Rangely charge considerably more to handle the product.

Craig wastewater plant manager Mike Frazier said the best economical solution is to never let the grease get into the sewer system.

"Just like at home with bacon grease," Frazier said. "You don't want to pour it into your drain, where it will cause problems."

The problems at the wastewater treatment plant are compounded by how long it takes for bacteria to break down grease and the cold weather that makes grease hard to handle because it solidifies.

"We don't want to spend months de-watering grease until it is solid enough to haul to a landfill," Frazier said.

At times, especially in winter, a mixture of water and grease will be sent to a pond to let the water evaporate, leaving the solid grease behind to be disposed of. The odor from that process is offensive to anyone within smelling distance of the plant, Frazier said.

Restaurants have grease traps that catch the waste before it gets to the sewer system and some of them hold as much as 1,000 gallons. The city is trying to get restaurant owners to empty the traps in the summer before the weather becomes an issue.

"October can be cold, and grease can take a long time to break down by then," Frazier said. "There doesn't seem to be an easy solution."

There are five or six haulers permitted to dump grease at the Craig wastewater facility.