Our UK Trade Effluent Services
Your business has a legal obligation to control trade effluent by obtaining consent from your water provider. By working together, we can ensure your site adheres to proper discharge practices and save you money on your bill.
Effluent management involves treating trade effluent to stabilise it before it leaves your business. Water wholesalers monitor the quality of water entering the main sewage system. You must get legal consent before releasing any polluted liquid effluent into public waterways.
A simple tariff switch saved one large brewery customer over £80,000 per year on their trade effluent bill. Trust our experts to optimise your effluent management. Unlock potential cost savings for your business.
Do I need consent?
We work with hundreds of businesses that discharge trade effluent. Our understanding on effluent treatment plans and the available tariffs make managing your processes simple. If your business sits within one of the below industries, it's like you'll need legal consent:
- launderette
- surface treatment
- swimming pools (commercial)
- food and drink production
- chemical production
- car wash (commercial)
- engineer
- construction
- waste / recycling centres
In some instances, you may benefit from temporary trade effluent discharges. This is common in construction or short term infrastructure projects. Several examples of businesses that don't require trade effluent management include pubs, hairdressers and offices. If you're unsure, contact our team to learn more.
Contact us via the form below for professional guidance and solutions tailored to your business needs.
When we discuss trade effluent, we are referring to polluted liquid waste and not solid waste. This is not surface water or domestic sewage. Oils, grease, chemicals, food waste, soil, detergents, and other substances can contaminate trade effluent.
If your business is discharging this type of waste into the sewage system, you have a legal obligation to declare it. Sewer effluent requires a more severe treatment process, which is why businesses must secure legal consent. The aim is to prevent this waste entering our rivers, lakes and oceans and causing severe water pollution issues.
Water companies define your trade effluent regulations on a case-by-case basis. Often, depending on the size and scale of your business, the industry you're in and the amount of trade in your area. Some of the factors they may consider are:
- Temperature: High temperatures create an unsafe working environment so you must remain within the limit (43.3°C).
- Ammonia: As well as being highly toxic to animals, ammonia can cause toxicity issues.
- Volume/flow rate: The amount of trade effluent you dispose of daily will depend on the limit outlined in your consent.
- Chemical Oxygen Demand Limit: This measurement shows how much chemical is in your effluent. Authorities set limits to prevent wastewater facilities from being overwhelmed.
- Suspended solids: Solid particles like silt or sediment in your liquid effluent can damage pipes.
- Oil and Grease: Fats, oils and grease (FOG) can damage public water ways when they solidify, causing blockages.
- pH: Sewage treatment facilities control the pH balance to protect staff, ensure effective treatment and protect infrastructure.
Water companies only class septic tank waste as trade effluent when it includes discharge from industrial processes.
In most instances, wholesalers measure trade effluent volume with a meter. By installing meters on discharge pipes, they're able to measure the volume of liquid leaving the premises directly. They monitor this as it enters the sewage treatment plant.
If your business doesn't have a meter on the discharge pipe, you could also be sub-metered on water input. Wholesalers asses the volume entering the commercial property and assume the volume of liquid effluent discharged.
Finally, a calculation discharge method may identify your trade effluent volume. For example, wholesalers or water companies often calculate landfill sites based on the size of the area and the monthly rainfall. You will always agree on this before the tariff begins.
An effluent treatment plant processes liquid effluent using treatment systems that rely on biological processes to break down waste. The Environment Agency monitor the process to ensure it meets safety and environmental standards. This helps protect local waterways and the wider environment.
Domestic sewage isn’t classed as trade effluent. This includes waste safely discharged from kitchen sinks, toilets and showers. The main sewage system treats all organic matter therefore we don't need to run additional biological treatments.
Water companies often classify septic effluent as domestic sewage. Therefore, you do not need to seek legal consent to discharge it. However, companies classify septic tank waste as trade effluent when you dispose of likely polluted material.
If you're unsure about your effluent, contact our experts for trade effluent advice.