Grease Trap Regulations in Florida

Overview of Florida FOG Compliance Framework

Florida food service rules come in layers. The federal floor is the Clean Water Act and EPA's National Pretreatment Program at 40 CFR Part 403. State rules sit on top through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Florida Building Commission. Each restaurant's discharge permit then comes from a local sewer authority. The federal rule bans putting "solid or viscous pollutants in amounts which will cause obstruction" into a public treatment plant (40 CFR §403.5(b)(3)). Every Florida city uses that clause to require grease interceptors at restaurants and other food service establishments (FSEs).

Florida added a statewide grease-waste statute on top of the federal floor in 2022. Senate Bill 1110 created Florida Statutes §403.0741. It tells FDEP to run a uniform grease-waste removal and disposal program. The program is built around licensed haulers, signed service manifests, and permitted disposal sites (flsenate.gov §403.0741; SB 1110). Day-to-day pump-out frequency, citation amounts, and operating-permit terms still come from the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). In Florida that is usually a county environmental department or a city water and sewer utility.

Governing Authorities

EPA sets the federal floor. Section 307(b) of the Clean Water Act lets states with approved programs run pretreatment. EPA Region 4 oversees Florida's program (epa.gov Region 4). EPA's National Pretreatment Program is documented at epa.gov/npdes/national-pretreatment-program.

FDEP is the lead state enforcer. It runs Florida's NPDES program by delegation from EPA. It also oversees the statewide Grease Waste Program created under Florida Statutes §403.0741 (floridadep.gov; flsenate.gov §403.0741). General environmental enforcement power lives in Florida Statutes §403.121. That statute allows civil fines up to $10,000 per offense, per day for any Chapter 403 violation. FDEP is still writing the administrative rules that put the §403.0741 hauler-licensing and manifest provisions into effect. Until those rules are final, the statute itself plus existing local pretreatment ordinances control compliance.

Building and plumbing rules sit in a separate code. Plumbing engineering standards live in the Florida Building Code, Plumbing volume. The Florida Building Commission adopts and amends that code (floridabuilding.org). The Plumbing volume uses the same model-code sizing math as the Uniform Plumbing Code. Many local AHJs add stricter sizing or installation rules on top of that base.

At the local level, the AHJ is whichever county or city department holds the FSE's discharge permit. In practice that is typically:

• Miami-Dade County: Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM), enforcing under Miami-Dade County Code Chapter 24.
• City of Tampa: Tampa Wastewater Department, enforcing under Tampa Code of Ordinances Chapter 26 (Utilities).
• City of Jacksonville: JEA Industrial Pretreatment Program, with sewer-use authority under Jacksonville Ordinance Code Chapter 755.
• City of Orlando and Orange County: Orlando Wastewater Division and Orange County Utilities, with sewer-use rules in Orlando City Code Chapter 28 and Orange County Code.

EPA's pretreatment rules require any public treatment plant with design flow over five million gallons per day to run a local pretreatment program. The same is true for any smaller plant that takes in industrial pollutants able to pass through or interfere with treatment (40 CFR §403.8). That is why nearly every urban Florida sewer utility has a FOG ordinance on top of state law.

Installation and Sizing Requirements

Florida has no single statewide grease-interceptor mandate written into the state environmental code. Instead, the duty to install an interceptor flows from the local sewer ordinance plus the Florida Building Code Plumbing volume. The Florida Building Commission hands permit review to county and city building officials (floridabuilding.org). The Plumbing volume tracks national model-code methodology. The sizing math used by Florida designers and inspectors is the same math published in the Uniform Plumbing Code by IAPMO.

Under the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code, hydromechanical grease interceptors (HGIs) are sized by flow rate. UPC §1014.2.1 caps approved HGIs between 20 and 50 gallons per minute unless the AHJ approves otherwise. The total fixture capacity feeding an HGI cannot exceed 2.5 times the certified gpm rating. UPC Table 1014.2.1(1) sets pipe-to-interceptor sizing. A 2-inch grease waste pipe carries up to 20 gpm. It pairs with a 20 gpm interceptor on a one-minute drainage period, or 10 gpm on two minutes. A 3-inch pipe carries up to 60 gpm and pairs with a 75 gpm unit. A 4-inch pipe carries up to 125 gpm and pairs with a 150 gpm unit (iapmo.org).

Gravity grease interceptors (GGIs) are sized by drainage fixture units, not instantaneous flow. UPC §1014.3.6 ties DFUs to a minimum interceptor volume in gallons. 8 DFUs require 500 gallons. 21 DFUs require 750 gallons. 35 DFUs require 1,000 gallons. 90 DFUs require 1,250 gallons. Gravity units must be installed outside the building unless the AHJ approves otherwise (UPC §1014.3.4). That keeps sewer gases and pumping odors out of food prep areas. The International Plumbing Code published by ICC sets a parallel floor. A gravity grease interceptor is a plumbing appurtenance of not less than 500 gallons (IPC Chapter 2 Definitions). Pretreatment is required for fixtures including pot sinks, prerinse sinks, soup kettles, wok stations, and floor drains that receive grease-laden waste (IPC §1003.3.1).

Local Florida amendments are common. Orange County and several other Florida jurisdictions use the industry-standard 50 gpm flow-rate cap and 100 pound grease-storage cap. That is the line between an indoor grease trap and a true gravity grease interceptor. They also apply 750 gallon minimum and 1,250 gallon maximum sizing for single-chamber vaults. Confirm the size, configuration, and indoor or outdoor placement that applies to a specific kitchen with the AHJ before buying equipment.

Cleaning and Maintenance Frequency

The dominant operational standard across Florida is the "25% Rule." Add the floating FOG layer at the top of the tank to the settled solids at the bottom. When that total reaches 25% of the liquid depth, the unit must be pumped. The rule comes from fluid dynamics. FOG and sludge squeeze the clear water zone in the middle of the tank. Incoming wastewater then short-circuits the baffles and pushes grease into the lateral. The 25% threshold is codified in industry standards such as CSA B481.4. Municipal FOG control programs across the country reference it (epa.gov).

Most Florida ordinances pair the 25% trigger with a calendar backstop. The exact backstop and inspection frequency are set by the local FOG ordinance, not by state law. The local AHJ is the binding source for any specific kitchen.

In Miami-Dade County, FOG compliance runs through DERM under Chapter 24 of the County Code. DERM requires commercial kitchens to hold an active operating permit for FOG control devices. It also runs maintenance-log inspections to verify the county-set pump-out intervals (miamidade.gov DERM). Pull the current permit conditions for your establishment from DERM directly rather than relying on third-party guidance.

In the City of Tampa, pretreatment runs through Tampa Wastewater under Tampa Code Chapter 26. Routine, unannounced inspections check that grease interceptors are structurally sound, sized for the kitchen's flow rate, and not letting excess FOG slip into the city sewer.

In the City of Jacksonville, JEA's Industrial Pretreatment Program enforces FOG control under Jacksonville Ordinance Code Chapter 755 (jea.com). After the 2022 statewide changes under §403.0741, JEA tightened its grease-trap servicing rules. Verify current pump-out frequencies and self-cleaning conditions against JEA's published Industrial Pretreatment Program documents. Requirements are still being updated as FDEP issues implementing rules.

Record-Keeping and Manifest Requirements

FOG inspectors run their site visits off paperwork. Service records, hauler manifests, and pumping receipts together prove that maintenance happened and that the waste went to a legal disposal site. EPA's pretreatment self-monitoring framework at 40 CFR §403.12 sets the federal floor for industrial-user reporting and recordkeeping. Industrial users in the National Pretreatment Program must keep monitoring records for at least three years. That retention period is automatically extended during any unresolved litigation about pollutant discharges (40 CFR §403.12(o)(2)).

Florida Statutes §403.0741 layers a state-specific manifest regime on top of the federal floor. Restaurants, cafeterias, schools, hospitals, and other commercial kitchens are designated as "Originators." They must install correctly sized grease traps or interceptors. They must schedule cleanings. They must keep signed service manifests as proof of maintenance (flsenate.gov §403.0741). Licensed haulers must produce manifests that track waste volume from the originator's trap to the final disposal site. Disposal facilities must be permitted or certified by FDEP. FDEP is still drafting the exact manifest fields and retention period in the implementing rules. Pull the most recent program guidance directly from floridadep.gov.

Most Florida sewer agencies expect a compliance log at inspection. It should list the date of each pumping. It should record the hauler's name and license number. It should note the volume of FOG and solids removed, the destination disposal facility, and a copy of the manifest. Missing or incomplete records are themselves a violation in most cities, even when the cleaning was actually performed.

Fines and Enforcement

Florida's enforcement architecture stacks state environmental authority on top of local sewer-use ordinances. At the state level, Florida Statutes §403.121 lets FDEP impose civil penalties up to $10,000 per offense, per day for Chapter 403 violations. That includes violations of the §403.0741 grease-waste regime (flsenate.gov §403.0741). The statute does not set a flat first-offense or repeat-offense fine ladder. The actual penalty in any given case depends on the violation type, the duration, and any environmental harm. It also depends on the FDEP enforcement officer's assessment and any cost-recovery for cleanup. If you are facing an enforcement action, request the penalty calculation worksheet from FDEP and consult counsel before signing any consent order.

Failure to comply with the §403.0741 hauler-licensing and manifest rules can also trigger municipal enforcement, including suspension or revocation of the FSE's local operating permit. The exact local citation amounts and administrative procedures are set by the AHJ, not by state statute.

At the local level, fine schedules are codified in each municipal or county ordinance and applied through that jurisdiction's administrative citation process. Miami-Dade DERM, Tampa Wastewater, JEA, and Orlando Wastewater each run their own enforcement programs with separate citation schedules, hearing procedures, and appeal rights. Aggregator websites and AI-generated compliance pages routinely publish neat tables of fixed first-violation and repeat-violation fine amounts for Florida cities. In almost every case those numbers are not in the actual municipal ordinance. Real ordinances contain statutory caps on daily civil liability. They also contain a generic administrative citation schedule that the city applies to most code violations. Rather than reproduce a table that misstates statutory exposure, this page directs operators back to the local AHJ for binding answers.

The federal pretreatment program adds a separate enforcement layer. EPA can directly enforce against industrial users under 40 CFR Part 403 when a local authority fails to act. POTWs must publish an annual list of significant noncompliers. The combined federal, state, and local exposure is why Florida FSE operators should treat documented compliance, not minimum-effort cleaning, as the operational baseline.

To find a verified grease-trap service provider in your Florida city, browse the directory at greasetraplocator.com.