Future-proof your trade effluent and reduce costs

Trade effluent is defined as any liquid waste that isn’t classified as domestic wastewater, i.e. waste that comes from kitchens, bathrooms, and toilets.

Businesses that need trade effluent consent include breweries, dairies, launderettes and dry cleaners, car washes, manufacturers, and commercial swimming pools.

• Decreasing your volume of water
• Treating effluent in-house
• Don't risk being fined

Businesses that need trade effluent consent generally use high volumes of water or are discharging contaminated effluent. Consent is required to ensure that the sewerage network is able to adequately handle and treat the waste, and regulating wastewater protects the environment from untreated discharge.

If your business is growing, it stands to reason that your volumes of trade effluent will also rise, and with that, comes an associated increase in costs. But there are ways you can reduce the costs associated with trade effluent, which can also help you future-proof your business's water bills.

Decreasing your volume of wastewater

By decreasing the amount of wastewater your business produces, you’ll pay fewer wastewater charges. This can be achieved by diverting what’s known as ‘grey water’ - the wastewater from sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, etc. - to be reused to flush toilets, water grounds, or wash pavements and company vehicles. This also means you’re not paying for the clean water that you normally use for these purposes, reducing consumption to generate big cost savings.

Treating effluent in-house

Given that the cost of discharging trade effluent is calculated according to the concentration of contaminants, you could make cost savings for your business by installing a treatment system. Treating the effluent to reduce the contamination concentration before it is discharged into the sewer could lower your charges. An example of this is to install a sedimentation tank that will remove many of the suspended solids from the water before it is discharged.

You may even be able to find a way of recovering and reusing raw materials from the effluent.

Don’t risk being fined

A trade effluent license defines the allowable discharge and establishes restrictions around it. Samples of discharge will be taken on a regular basis to ensure that compliance is maintained. It is a criminal offense to discharge trade effluent without consent, which carries the risk of prosecution and fines. Therefore, it’s important to adhere to the terms of your trade effluent consent in order to avoid the risk of incurring a large fine.

Trade effluent requirements can be complex. Castle Water’s dedicated, expert trade effluent team has the experience and technology required to understand it like no one else – and we make the process simple. We can help with all aspects of your wastewater management and chemical wastewater treatment. Please contact us if you would like more information.