East Baton Rouge Grease Trap Rules, in Plain English

Who enforces this

Grease traps in Baton Rouge answer to two sets of rules: the parish sewer-use ordinance (enforced by the City-Parish Department of Environmental Services) and the state health code (enforced by Louisiana Department of Health sanitarians — covered separately here). This page is the sewer side: Title 2, Chapter 5, Part IB of the parish code.

The nine rules every kitchen should know

• 1. Clean at least every 90 days — no matter what. Sec. 2:273(a) requires cleaning “as often as needed… but not less than once per ninety (90) days.” Busy kitchens need it far more often — the ordinance explicitly contemplates up to daily.
• 2. The one-third ceiling. Accumulated grease, oil, solids and sand may never occupy more than 33% of the first stage of your trap (Sec. 2:273(a)(2)). Industry practice plans pump-outs at 25% — a margin below the legal line — which is what our frequency calculator estimates.
• 3. Full evacuation is mandatory. At every cleaning the trap must be “fully evacuated of all contents” (Sec. 2:273(c)(1)) — grease cap, water column, and solids. If the tank is bigger than the truck, the job must be finished within 24 hours. A skim-the-top service is not a legal cleaning here.
• 4. Nothing goes back in. Returning liquid waste to the trap during or after cleaning — a corner-cutting trick some haulers use to save disposal fees — is prohibited outright (Sec. 2:273(c)(2)). Residual cleaning water has to be hauled away too (c)(4).
• 5. Walls scraped, condition inspected, every time. Grease residue must come off the piping and walls, and the trap’s physical condition must be inspected at every cleaning, witnessed by you (Sec. 2:273(b),(c)(3)).
• 6. Repairs need permits. Trap repairs require city-parish plumbing permits and a post-repair inspection; the inspection tag stays on site and repair documentation goes to the parish within 30 days (Sec. 2:273(b)).
• 7. Additives are banned. Emulsifiers, enzymes, chemicals, or hot water over 140°F used to push grease through the trap are “strictly prohibited” (Sec. 2:272(8)). Whatever the additive salesman says, in this parish it is not a substitute for pumping.
• 8. Keep it accessible and clean. The area around the trap must allow immediate access for cleaning and inspection at all times, and must be kept free of grease, spills and odors (Sec. 2:272(2),(9)).
• 9. Bad maintenance can cost you the sewer bill. If the parish has to clean a public sewer line because of a poorly maintained trap, it can bill the users — and on a shared line, every business is liable unless it can prove otherwise. The accepted proof is adequate sizing plus cleaning manifests and inspection documentation (Sec. 2:272(6)). Your paperwork is your shield: keep every record with our free pump-out log.

The 90-day exemption (and why almost nobody uses it)

Sec. 2:273(d) allows skipping a 90-day cleaning — but only with a formal letter to the director, three documented inspections in the ten days before day 90, accumulation under five percent of the first stage, and sworn certifications under penalty of law… renewed every single cycle. For any kitchen actually cooking, pumping is cheaper than the paperwork.