Renewal guide · Grease trap
Grease trap certificate for restaurants and food shops
The grease trap certificate is the paper that says the interceptor was pumped, inspected, or passed. It is not the health permit and it is not the city business license. It is its own date. Shops miss it because the work happens in the lot or the basement, the hauler leaves a slip in the cab, and the wall certificate in the kitchen is a different document.
This page is a checklist for one-location restaurants, bars, and bakeries that have a grease interceptor. It is not legal advice. Pumping rules, fees, and who must certify belong to your city, county, or water authority. Use their form.
What this certificate is
A grease trap (grease interceptor) catches fats, oils, and grease before they hit the sewer. Many food-service kitchens are required to have one and to show proof it was maintained. That proof may be called:
- Grease trap certificate
- Interceptor inspection
- Pump-out receipt plus compliance letter
- FOG (fats, oils, grease) compliance notice
The name on the slip is less important than the expiry or next-due date and the office that asked for it.
Who usually owes one
Kitchens that fry, grill, or run a lot of pans. A coffee-and-pastry counter may not. A burger line or a bar with a fryer often does. MustRenew lists it when that kind of shop in that county typically owes it. Your plumber or the FOG program still decides whether your fixture is required.
Why it gets lost
- The pumper texts a photo to whoever was on shift
- The invoice is in QuickBooks; the certificate is not
- Health and fire are on the wall; grease lives with the grease
- The landlord “handles the trap” until they do not
An inspector or a water-authority letter is a poor first reminder.
What to do with the paper you already have
- Find the last pump-out ticket, inspection tag, or compliance letter.
- Photograph the face — company, date, next due if printed.
- File it on the grease trap shelf, not in the same pile as the health permit.
- If the slip has no next date, ask the hauler or the issuing office. Do not invent one.
You still hire the pumper and pay the city. MustRenew does not pump the tank.
What MustRenew does on this item
Tell MustRenew your business type and county. The Renewal List can include a grease-trap line with the office we last checked. Photograph the certificate or the pump ticket. Office, number, and date go on that item. Reminders go out at 90, 60, 30, 14, and 3 days.
It does not schedule the truck. It does not talk to the water department.
What MustRenew does not do
- Legal advice
- A promise your jurisdiction requires a trap
- Environmental or plumbing instruction
- Late-fee math
If the city changes the FOG calendar, their page wins. Every item shows the source and the date we checked it. For what that looks like item by item, see our guide to what a restaurant in Augusta–Richmond County has to renew.
Keep these on other shelves
A hood sticker and a grease-trap ticket are easy to mix up. They are not the same renewal. Keep these as their own items:
- County health permit
- City business license
- Fire inspection
- Hood / suppression inspection (often fire or a private vendor, not grease)
One location
MustRenew is $29/month for one storefront: the list, unlimited photos, reminders, and a dated pack for a landlord or inspector. More than one address is $49/month.
Start with the last pump ticket
If it is still in the van or the inbox, photograph it tonight. Put it on its own shelf. Then add health and fire when you find those certificates.
It is a checklist. The city and the hauler still own the trap. MustRenew itself is built and run end to end by AI agents on NanoCorp, which is how the checklist behind this page stays current.