Grease trap cleaning in Michigan: who may haul it and what the rules say

How Michigan law defines grease trap waste

Part 117 treats restaurant grease separately. Domestic septage does not include grease removed from a grease interceptor or trap. That material is 'food establishment septage', and the law lets it be blended into domestic septage at no more than one part restaurant material to three parts domestic septage before land application, or sent to a receiving facility. Septage waste, in the statute's words, consists only of food establishment septage, domestic septage, domestic treatment plant septage or sanitary sewer cleanout septage. A company that pumps your trap and carries it away is therefore doing licensed septage work.

Grease trap cleaning costs in Michigan: what we can show

We publish no estimate for grease trap cleaning, because no source prices it. The table has one row, the servicer wage. Part 117's license fees are a cost to the hauler, not a price you pay.

Septic tank servicer wage, Michigan mean: $24.85 an hour. What Michigan septic tank servicers are paid (BLS, May 2025, statewide), not what you are charged.

We publish no estimate for this job, because no source prices it. The rows are what workers are paid and what government sources say, and the wage is pay, not a price. The method for the jobs we do estimate is on the editorial policy page. Get written quotes. Full method. Prices as of Oct 19, 2026.

Who may haul it and where it goes

The hauler needs an EGLE septage waste servicing license and a vehicle license, valid five years, and contracting with an unlicensed hauler is barred as well. The license costs the business $200 a year plus $350 per truck, which is its cost of operation and not your price. Septage has to go to an authorized receiving facility in the hauler's service area when one exists, and may otherwise be land applied only at permitted sites and never on frozen ground. Ask the hauler for its license number and where the load goes.

How often: what Michigan sets and what it leaves open

Livingston County's sanitary code is one local answer: septic tanks and grease traps at food-service premises are pumped annually, with hauling under Part 117. A schedule may come from your sewer authority and not from the state, so ask your city or township which applies before you set your own.

A restaurant on a septic system

Food service on a septic system has its own design rule in the state's Criteria, Appendix F: either 72 hours of retention in the septic tank, or a separate grease interception device on the kitchen line with 24 hours of tank retention. The Criteria date from 1994, so check your county's current code. Homes are simpler: EGLE says not to put excessive cooking grease or waste oil down any drain connected to a septic system, because grease does not break down in the tank.

When a grease problem cannot wait

Before you book

1. Find out if your sewer authority has a cleaning schedule, and check the county too.
2. Ask the hauler for its EGLE license number and where the waste goes.
3. Ask for a written service record with the date, the volume removed and the disposal site.

Licensing and local rules

The license that matters is the hauler's, issued by EGLE. A food business's own permit or schedule for a trap is a local question: ask your sewer authority and your county health department.

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Questions people ask

Keep reading

Guides

• What not to put in a Michigan septic system: EGLE's list and what counties add
• What a septic pumping receipt should show in Michigan

Related services

• Septic pumping
• Emergency septic

Michigan licensing, code and permit facts · Who licenses and permits septic work in Michigan · Report a wrong price or rule