Trade Waste Customers
You are considered to have a trade waste discharge and are required to apply for consent to discharge trade waste if you operate, or intend to operate, a business that can be classified as one of the following:
- Restaurant, take away/fast food, cafe
- Butcher
- Bakery
- Car or truck wash
- Service Station
- Laundrette
- Aged Care or hospital
- Food processing
- Any site with a commercial kitchen
- Manufacturing industry
Trade waste may consist of, but is not limited to, wastewater that is mixed with:
- Grease, fats and oils
- Food particles and other organic materials
- Motor oils, petrol, grease
- Cleaning chemicals (eg. acids, sodium, phosphorus)
- Excess nutrients (eg. nitrogen, phosphorus)
- Other inorganic compounds
Trade waste may also have physical characteristics such as temperature and pH that make it a risk to our network and people.
Customers with a Trade Waste discharge, dependant on volumes and contaminates, are separated into commercial and industrial categories determined by a classification system.
Trade waste classifications determine the specific fees and regulations each customer must abide by.
We work with businesses to help them to minimise the risk to the greater sewer network and environment. Each application is individually assessed to determine the appropriate trade waste pre-treatment device and servicing requirements.
When your Trade Waste device is serviced, the contractor or Waste Carter needs to scan the device barcode or QR code to notify us that it has been serviced in line with your consent requirements.
Compliance with commercial trade waste consent/pre-treatment device servicing, is monitored using WasteID.
If your trade waste pre-treatment device is serviced by a contractor or waste carter who does not use WasteID to record the service, it is considered to have not been serviced and will result in noncompliance with your trade waste consent.
You can find the current list of compliant waste carters here.
Trade Waste pre-treatment devices such as, but limited to:
- Grease Interceptor Traps
- Silt Traps or Basket Arrestors
- Coalescing Plate Separators or
- Triple Interceptors
- Vertical Gravity Separators
- Cooling Pits
- Fixed Static Screening
- Ph Correction
are required to be installed by a licenced plumber in accordance with the AS/NZS 3500, Goulburn Valley Water’s conditions of connection and applicable water and sewer regulations.
Industrial Customers
Industrial trade waste customers produce trade waste of a high strength and or large volume. These customers require a higher degree of monitoring and often more advanced pre-treatment of trade waste prior to discharge.
Each industrial customer is required to enter into a trade waste discharge agreement that sets the accepted limits of contaminants and volumes of waste that we can accept.
We work closely with our industrial customers to monitor the trade waste discharge against their individual acceptance criteria and volume limits.
Discharging industrial trade waste into our sewer networks can be an operational, environmental and health and safety risk for not just us, but the whole community.
Industrial customers may also be required to enter into water supply agreements. These individual agreements set the limits of water that a business can use from the network.
Industrial trade waste and water supply agreements can be complex, if you are seeking further information or would like to start the application process, please complete the application form or contact our Business Customer Service Team on 5832 4800 or via email mail@gvwater.vic.gov.au.
Current industrial customers can request a review of their current agreements at any time by completing either the Request to Review Trade Waste Agreement Form or Request To Review Water Supply Agreement Form.
A current and valid trade waste consent or agreement is required before you can discharge trade waste of any volume. Illegal discharges of trade waste are illegal and may result in the cessation of your sewer services or penalty by law.
Expect to be inspected
Our Business Customer Service officers will inspect your site and pre-treatment and may enter your site to ensure your activities are in line with your consent or agreement. They may:
- inspect the premises, trade waste device and request proof of recent device servicing
- collect samples of your trade wastewater at any time, on any day
- install and use online monitoring.
Safe access to the premises must be provided at any reasonable time as per the Water Act 1989 Part 9 Section 177 and in line with current Worksafe requirements.