Businesses
Top tips for keeping your workplace drains clear
Blocked drains can lead to closed offices, unhappy customers and hefty fines. Not to mention foul smells, expensive repair costs and damage to your reputation. That’s why we work closely with all our local business customers to help keep blockages to a minimum.
The causes of blocked drains
In most cases blocked pipes are the result of the wrong things being flushed down the loo or poured down the sink. Tampons, wet wipes, cooking oil and fat are among the biggest offenders. The annual cost of cleaning sewers is £10 million, a cost we have to pass onto all our business customers. That’s because every year we clear 45,000 blockages, 75% of which are caused as a result of inappropriate waste disposal.
Avoid blockages
Some methods you can use to help avoid blockages include:
- Train employees about used oil and food waste disposal
- Collect used oil in a container and arrange for a licensed waste contractor to collect
- Scrape pots, pans and plates into the bin before washing up
- Use sink strainers and empty collected remains into the bin
- Recycle or bin food waste, including soups and sauces
- Use grease traps and remember to frequently empty
- Soak up spills with paper towels before mopping up
- Place sanitary waste bins in all toilets and use signs to remind staff to use them
Thought for food service
To ensure pipe and drain blockages don’t affect your food service business, we recommend the following:
- Install correctly sized equipment to prevent the discharge of fat, oil and grease into drains
- Clean and maintain your equipment in line with the manufacturer’s instructions (a cleaning record must be kept and available on request)
- Ensure all fat, oil and grease removed from the equipment is collected in a suitable container and disposed of by a licensed waste contractor (a disposal record must also be kept and available on request)
It’s important your waste contractor is licensed by the Environment Agency. Visit the GOV.UK website to find out more and to locate a registered carrier.
What can be done to help
As is so often the case, the most effective business tool is awareness. By simply educating your employees about drain blockages and the negative impact they can have on the business will greatly aid in keeping your drains clean. Below are just a few simple tips to share with your staff.
Working together to prevent blockages
We have been working with restaurants, cafes and takeaways in Stratford-Upon-Avon to reduce the amount of fat, oil and grease that enters the drains.
Collaborating with Severn Trent and our partners at Environmental Compliance and Services, businesses involved in the scheme include:
- Barnaby's
- Café Rouge
- Carluccio's
- The Encore
- Fourteas
- Garrick Inn
- J. D. Wetherspoon
- The Kingfisher
- Lamb's
- Loxley's
- McDonald's
- Opposition
- Pizza Express
- The Rose & Crown
- Royal Shakespeare Society
- The Shakespeare Hotel
- Sorrento's
- Thespians
- The Vintner
- Wildwood
- Zizzi
Together we estimate these businesses will prevent over 34 tonnes of fat, oil and grease entering the Stratford-Upon-Avon sewers each year, helping to reduce the likelihood of flooding and pollution in the town.
How to save water
Before you start making long-term savings you need to understand how much water your business is using. The following checks will give you a clear idea on your water use.
Locate your water meter
Taking regular readings will help you spot any unexpected increases in usage and identify any issues.
Review your recent water bills
It pays to carefully track your bills to see if they’re going up or down.
Identify where you’re using water
Note down all the key areas of water use – inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs
Check key areas of water use
Look for any leaking toilet valves, overflowing urinals and dripping taps. Amazingly, a small leak of just six litres per minute adds up to £8000 a year.
Speak to your team
Ask your employees about their own water use and see if they have any great water saving ideas of their own.
Finding and fixing leaks
Take a thorough look at both your supply pipes (those between your building and water meter) and distribution pipes (those that take water around your building). Be sure to check all stop taps too.
Prepare for winter
Burst or frozen pipes can cause your business major headaches and costs. Ensure all your pipes and tanks are lagged well in advance of winter and insulate hot water pipes to retain heat and save even more money.
Install water efficient devices
Have you got flush bags in your toilets? Do your taps have flow regulators? Are you using water efficient showerheads? If not, installing these devices will quickly save your business water.
Educate your employees
The most effective way to reduce your water usage is by making ensuring your employees are doing their part. Make sure water issues and leaks are clearly communicated internally and place posters around your building to encourage water saving behaviour.
Short-term wins are great, however long-term change should always be your goal. Here are a few top tips to help you keep reduce your water usage.
Set up a maintenance programme
Now you’re aware of your water usage, keep a regular check on taps, toilets and pipework to identify leaks early.
Monitor your usage
Continue to calculate your average daily usage to see if you’ve reduced your water consumption. If you have, be sure to communicate this to your employees and thank them for their efforts.
Check your energy bills
It’s not just your water bills you’ll reduce with good water usage, so be sure to see if there’s been a positive effect on your energy bills too.
Celebrate your success
Share your success with your employees and community through a Corporate Social Responsibility Report. If you’ve seen some amazing savings you may even wish to enter your business for an Environment Agency Water Efficiency Award.
How to improve water efficiency
Identify usage increases
An increase in use could indicate a leak or process problem. The more you monitor, the quicker you’ll fix the issue.
Get your employees involved
Encouraging your people to change their habits, report problems and share ideas will have an immediate impact on your water usage.
Check your competition
Benchmarking your water usage against similar businesses, as well as your other sites, gives a quick indication of your efficiency. You can see a few examples in the table below.
Sector | Units | Typical usage |
Hotels | m3 per bed space per year | 30m3 |
Offices | m3 per m2 per year | 0.6m3 |
Restaurants | m3 per cover per year | 0.05m3 |
Retails outlets | m3 per m2 per year | 0.6m3 |
Paper production | m3 per tonne | 22.5m3 |
Colleges/universities | m3 per m2 per year | 0.6m3 |
Frozen fruit/veg production | m3 per tonne |
6.0m3 |