Biloxi Grease Trap Rules: The Permit Most Owners Don't Know About

Most Gulf Coast restaurant owners know they have a grease trap. Fewer know that on the Mississippi coast, the trap itself needs a permit. The Harrison County Utility Authority (HCUA) regulates grease trap waste across its member cities, including Biloxi, Gulfport, D’Iberville, Long Beach, and Pass Christian, and its rules reach every commercial kitchen, including schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.

The requirements below come from HCUA’s published Grease Trap Waste Disposal Regulations, with forms and the current hauler list on HCUA’s grease permits page. Requirements can change, so confirm current details with HCUA at (228) 868-8752.

You need a grease trap permit

Every generator of grease trap waste must apply to HCUA for a Grease Trap Permit and pay an annual permit fee. “Generator” is defined broadly: any facility doing commercial food preparation, whether privately or publicly owned. Failing to apply is itself a violation that carries penalties. Your city’s building code governs the trap installation itself; the HCUA permit covers its operation.

The 90-day benchmark

HCUA’s regulation does not set a fixed calendar for every kitchen. Instead it requires cleaning at whatever interval keeps your discharge compliant, and it draws a hard line at 90 days: any generator that has not cleaned its trap within a 90-day period can be ordered to submit to inspection and testing. If that inspection finds a violation, you pay for the inspection, the testing, and the cleaning, on top of any fines. Kitchens with genuinely light grease loads can apply to the Director for an exception allowing less frequent cleaning, with documentation. In practice, most commercial kitchens on the coast are on a 30 to 90 day pumping cycle.

What counts as a cleaning

The regulation defines “clean” precisely: the entire contents of the trap are removed, the walls are scraped or hydraulically cleaned with high-pressure water, and the trap is re-pumped. A hauler who skims the surface grease and leaves the rest has not cleaned your trap by HCUA’s definition, and the paperwork trail will show it.

Permitted haulers only, with a manifest

Two rules move the compliance burden onto your choice of vendor:

1. Grease trap waste may only be removed by an HCUA-permitted hauler displaying the Authority’s decals on the truck. Permitted haulers carry a $5,000 bond, at least $500,000 in liability coverage, and a Mississippi Department of Health license. HCUA publishes the current permitted hauler list; confirm your hauler is on it before they touch the trap.
2. Every pumping runs on HCUA’s Grease Trap Waste Manifest. You sign the generator section before the load leaves your site, the hauler may not discharge anything back into your sewer, and you keep your records per the manifest system. Handing waste to a properly permitted hauler is what legally relieves you of liability for that load, so the manifest is worth more than the invoice.

What violations cost

After a written notice and a correction window, continued violations run $50 to $500 per violation, per day. Chronic violations can end in revoked permits or discontinued sewer service, falsified paperwork can cost you your permit, and any discharge that damages the sewer system gets billed back to you for the repair costs. HCUA can also suspend a permit immediately in an emergency.

Keep the file current

At minimum, keep on site: your grease trap permit, your completed manifests, and any exception approval if you clean less often than quarterly. If an HCUA or city inspector asks for your pumping history, that file is the answer.

Pair it with your hood schedule

The same kitchens pumping traps every 30 to 90 days usually sit in the fire code’s quarterly hood inspection tier. Many coast operators run both on one compliance calendar. Compare grease trap services in Biloxi in our directory, several of which appear on HCUA’s own permitted hauler list.