Bundle Waste
Your grease-trap pump-out schedule should follow the applicable trade waste consent and the requirements of your water authority. Do not replace that schedule with a universal national interval or an unsourced rule of thumb.
Find the current requirement
Locate the consent for the site, identify the interceptor and read the servicing conditions. Check that the document reflects the current business activity and equipment. If it is missing or unclear, ask the water authority’s trade waste team to confirm the requirement.
For its service area, South East Water states that pump-outs must follow the interval in the consent; it describes four months as typical. That is not a schedule for every Melbourne or Australian premises.
Keep the equipment and service record together
Record the trap location, identification, access arrangements and previous service dates. Retain the pump-out documents and confirm how the service is recorded with the relevant authority. Ask what information is needed for an interval review.
South East Water describes Wastelog as its pump-out monitoring system. Other service areas may use different arrangements; confirm the local process rather than assuming the same portal applies.
Request a review instead of changing the interval yourself
If trading hours, menu, production or equipment change, contact the authority and qualified service provider. Supply the service history and any monitoring information they request. Obtain written confirmation before implementing a revised schedule.
Do not interpret a visually low level or a provider’s cost suggestion as permission to skip a required service. Leave inspection and maintenance tasks requiring specialist access to appropriately qualified people.
Plan collection access
Confirm the booking, vehicle access, site contact and how the work interacts with trading. Ask who informs you if a scheduled service cannot be completed and how a replacement is arranged before the requirement is missed.
Compare price separately from compliance
Once the interval and service scope are established, obtain comparable written quotes. Include access, volume, transport, treatment and documentation. A lower annual price is not an equivalent offer if it omits required pump-outs.
Use actual scheduled services for the annual calculation, and keep extra or emergency work separate. Review invoices against the completed-service record.
Related guides
Sources
Checked 18 September 2026. Apply each source within its stated scope; site-specific approvals and quotes still need confirmation.
- South East Water — Food and Oil Interceptor. Why is it important; Wastelog.