Grease Trap Cleaning Cost in 2026: Restaurant Pumping Prices
Grease trap cleaning costs $115 to $1,040 per pumping (Greasecycle, Sep 2025). A small under-sink trap runs about $115 a visit, indoor interceptors $125 to $240, and a 1,000- to 1,500-gallon outdoor interceptor $225 to $315 on a service plan. In one Texas county's public bid, 1,000-gallon traps drew $185 to $550 a visit.
Grease trap cleaning costs $115 to $1,040 per pumping, according to Greasecycle's September 2025 guide to industry pricing in North Carolina. The low end is a 20- to 30-gallon under-sink trap pumped every two to four weeks. The high end is a 5,000-gallon interceptor that hasn't been pumped in years and is out of compliance. Most restaurants fall in between.
Public bids show the same spread. When Tarrant County, Texas, bid out its 2023 trap-cleaning contract, three companies priced the same 1,000-gallon grease trap at $190, $250 and $550 per service, and a 2,800-gallon trap at $520, $700 and $1,540. Trap size, how full it is when the truck arrives, disposal fees, and after-hours or emergency calls all move the bill.
Many septic companies pump grease traps and interceptors too. Several of the haulers on Sioux City, Iowa's approved grease hauler list are septic companies. Septic Tank Pumping Pros connects restaurants and commercial kitchens with independent local pumpers. The figures below are published prices and public bids, not quotes.
Typical national range
$115 – $1,040
Greasecycle (Sep 8, 2025), North Carolina industry pricing. Public bids for a 1,000-gallon trap: $185–$550 per visit (Tarrant County, TX, 2023).
Cost breakdown
| Item | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Under-sink grease trap (20–30 gal), pumped every 14–28 days | $115 – $115 | Greasecycle (Sep 2025), the low end of its range. |
| Indoor interceptor (30–200 gal), service agreement | $125 – $180 | Greasecycle, per pumping on an ongoing contract. |
| Indoor interceptor (30–200 gal), one-time pumping | $190 – $240 | Greasecycle. One-off calls cost more than contract visits. |
| Outdoor interceptor (1,000–1,500 gal), service plan | $225 – $315 | Greasecycle, per pumping on an extended service program. |
| 1,000-gallon grease trap, public bid per visit | $185 – $550 | Tarrant County, TX, RFB 2023-033, three bidders. A county's annual contract, not a restaurant quote. |
| 2,800-gallon grease trap, public bid per visit | $520 – $1,540 | Tarrant County, TX, RFB 2023-033. |
| 30,000-gallon grease trap, public bid per visit | $5,700 – $16,500 | Tarrant County, TX, RFB 2023-033. A very large institutional interceptor. |
| 5,000-gallon interceptor, years overdue | $1,040 – $1,040 | Greasecycle, the top of its range: out of compliance and not pumped in years. |
| Emergency service fee (on top of the visit) | $190 – $500 | Tarrant County, TX, bids from three companies. |
| After-hours service fee (on top of the visit) | $140 – $2,000 | Tarrant County, TX, bids from three companies. |
What changes the price
Providers quote their own work — these are the factors that consistently move the number.
- Trap type and size: Greasecycle prices a 20- to 30-gallon under-sink trap at about $115 a pumping and a 1,000- to 1,500-gallon outdoor interceptor at $225–$315 on a service plan.
- How full it is: an overdue trap takes longer and hauls more waste. Greasecycle's $1,040 top price is a 5,000-gallon interceptor that hadn't been pumped in years.
- Contract or one-off: Greasecycle shows indoor interceptors at $125–$180 a pumping under a service agreement, versus $190–$240 for a single call.
- Disposal and per-gallon charges: in a Texas school district's bid, grease trap waste haul and disposal ran $0.20 to $1.95 a gallon, and one company quoted $0.84 in one region and $1.95 in another.
- Timing: Tarrant County's bidders added $140 to $2,000 for after-hours service and $190 to $500 for emergencies.
- Local rules: your sewer utility can set the cleaning frequency, require an approved hauler, and ask for cleaning logs, which all shape what you pay over a year.
Grease trap vs. grease interceptor: which one are you paying to clean?
A grease trap is usually the small indoor unit under or near the sink. A grease interceptor is the larger tank, usually outdoors and in the ground, that the kitchen drains into. Sioux City, Iowa's grease program draws the same line: indoor grease traps must be cleaned at least weekly or when the 25% rule is met, while outdoor interceptors are pumped by a certified hauler when the 25% rule is met. EPA says these devices must be sized so grease can cool and separate in calm water, and serviced at regular intervals.
Price follows size. Greasecycle puts a 20- to 30-gallon under-sink trap at about $115 a visit, 30- to 200-gallon indoor interceptors at $125–$180 on a service agreement ($190–$240 one-off), and 1,000- to 1,500-gallon outdoor traps at $225–$315 on an extended plan. In Sioux City, indoor traps can be cleaned by kitchen staff or a certified hauler, but outdoor interceptors must be pumped by a certified hauler.
Grease trap cleaning prices: per gallon vs. per visit
Most restaurant service is quoted per visit. Public contracts show the per-gallon side. In an IDEA Public Schools (Texas) bid tabulation posted in March 2025, five companies priced grease trap waste haul and disposal at $0.20, $0.35, $0.70, $0.80, and $0.84 to $1.95 a gallon; the last was one company quoting different rates in different regions. Tarrant County's 2023 bidders charged $0.25 to $0.55 for each gallon pumped beyond the base visit.
ESTIMATE: at those per-gallon rates, hauling 1,000 gallons would cost $200 to $1,950 ($0.20 × 1,000 and $1.95 × 1,000). That overlaps the $185 to $550 per visit that Tarrant County's bidders asked for a 1,000-gallon trap, but runs far higher at the top. On a per-gallon quote, ask whether you're billed on the trap's capacity or on the gallons actually removed.
How often should a grease trap be cleaned? The 25% rule
Many local grease ordinances set the schedule with the 25% rule: pump when the floating grease plus the settled solids reach 25% of the liquid depth. Sioux City's worked example: 0.5 feet of grease plus 1.0 foot of solids in 4.0 feet of contents is 37.5%, so that restaurant has to pump more often.
The threshold and the backstop vary by city. Sioux City requires indoor traps to be cleaned at least weekly. A Texas school district's 2025 grease trap contract required cleaning at least every three months, or sooner if grease and solids filled 50% of the trap's wetted height. Greasecycle's lowest price assumes an under-sink trap pumped every 14 to 28 days. Your local wastewater utility's ordinance sets the rule you're held to.
Grease trap cleaning for restaurants: local pretreatment rules
Grease rules come from the federal pretreatment program, which local sewer utilities enforce. EPA's regulations at 40 CFR 403.5(b)(3) prohibit solid or viscous pollutants in amounts that obstruct the sewer. EPA's report to Congress on sewer overflows found that grease from restaurants, homes and industry was the most common cause (47%) of reported blockages (EPA fact sheet, Sep 2012).
Enforcement is local and can be expensive. EPA's fact sheet cites New York City's $1,000-per-day fine for grease violations and monthly "strong waste" surcharges of $100 to $700 or more on restaurant sewer bills. It reports typical local oil-and-grease limits of 50 to 450 mg/L, with 100 mg/L the most common. Sioux City's limit is 400 mg/L. It also asks restaurants to keep a log of cleanings and accepts interceptor pump-outs only from haulers on its approved list.
Grease trap cleaning near me: hiring a service
Start with your wastewater utility. Ask whether it keeps an approved or certified hauler list (Sioux City does, and several of the haulers on it are septic companies) and what records it wants after each cleaning. Then get written quotes for the same scope: trap size and location, a full pump-out rather than skimming, scraping and washing the walls, disposal, and the service report your city requires. Grease Trap Locator's September 2026 guide makes the same point about comparing like for like.
Compare contract and one-off prices. Greasecycle's North Carolina pricing shows indoor interceptors at $125–$180 a pumping under a service agreement versus $190–$240 for a one-time call. Tarrant County's bidders charged $140 to $2,000 extra for after-hours service and $190 to $500 for emergencies. A regular schedule built around the 25% rule avoids most of those charges.
How we built these numbers
The short version. Every price on this page comes from a published industry price guide or a public bid document. When no source publishes a figure we need, we make an estimate, label it as an estimate, and show how we got it. These are planning ranges, not quotes. This page is published by Cornelia Cove LLC.
How each range was built:
Headline range ($115–$1,040) and the trap-size prices. As published by Greasecycle's grease trap pumping cost guide (Sep 8, 2025), which reports industry average pricing in North Carolina. Greasecycle is a grease service company, and it says the figures aren't quotes for its own services. No national consumer cost guide (Angi, HomeAdvisor or HomeGuide) publishes grease trap cleaning prices, so we pair it with public bids.
Public bid prices (1,000-, 2,800- and 30,000-gallon traps, excess gallons, emergency, after-hours and holiday fees). Read directly from Tarrant County, Texas's award tabulation for RFB 2023-033, Annual Contract for Grease, Lint, Oil and Sand Trap Cleaning Services. These are institutional contract prices from 2023, older than our other sources, so we show them as real examples, not as a national average.
Per-gallon prices ($0.20–$1.95). Read directly from IDEA Public Schools' bid tabulation for #05-IFB-CNP-2223 (posted March 2025), which also contains the three-month and 50% cleaning requirement. Grease Trap Locator's guide (updated Sep 23, 2026) pointed us to both bid documents.
The 25% rule and Sioux City's requirements. From the City of Sioux City, Iowa's "Understanding Grease Removal and the 25% Rule" handout. Federal rules, the 47% blockage figure, fines, surcharges and local limits are from EPA's fact sheet EPA-833-F-12-003 (Sep 2012) and EPA's National Pretreatment Program page (updated Aug 31, 2026).
Date window. Price sources range from 2023 (Tarrant County bids) to Sep 23, 2026, and all were accessed Oct 18, 2026.
Estimates on this page (labeled where they appear): Per-gallon haul cost for 1,000 gallons ($200–$1,950) = IDEA's lowest and highest per-gallon bids ($0.20 and $1.95) × 1,000 gallons.
How we choose figures: As published. We copy a source's range exactly. We don't round, blend or adjust for inflation. Where a source gives a single price, we show it as a single price. When sources disagree by a lot, we show both.
Limits. Grease trap pricing is local: disposal fees, hauler licensing and city rules differ widely, and published pricing is thin. Treat these as examples to compare quotes against, not a national average.
Reusing this data. The cost tables on this page are licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). You can reuse them with attribution and a link back to this page. Suggested credit: Source: Septic Tank Pumping Pros, Grease Trap Cleaning Cost (Cornelia Cove LLC), https://septictankpumpingpros.com/cost/grease-trap-cleaning-cost
Corrections. Spot a wrong or outdated figure? Email partners@corneliacove.com. We check reported errors against the cited source, then update the page and its review date.
Last updated: October 2026. We refresh these tables at least once a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does grease trap cleaning cost?
Greasecycle puts grease trap pumping at $115 to $1,040 per visit (Sep 2025): about $115 for a small under-sink trap and $225–$315 for a 1,000- to 1,500-gallon outdoor interceptor on a service plan. In a Texas county's public bid, 1,000-gallon traps drew $185 to $550 per visit.
How often should a restaurant grease trap be cleaned?
Often enough to stay under your city's limit. Many cities use the 25% rule, and some add a calendar minimum: Sioux City, Iowa requires indoor traps to be cleaned at least weekly. A Texas contract required cleaning at least every three months. Busy kitchens with small under-sink traps may need service every two to four weeks.
What is the 25% rule for grease traps?
Pump the trap when floating grease plus settled solids reach 25% of the liquid depth. In Sioux City's example, 0.5 feet of grease and 1.0 foot of solids in 4.0 feet of contents is 37.5%, so the restaurant needs to pump more often.
Can restaurant staff clean the grease trap themselves?
Sometimes, for small indoor traps. Sioux City lets kitchen staff or a certified hauler clean indoor grease traps, but requires a certified hauler for outdoor interceptors. Check your city's ordinance before you skip the hauler.
Do septic companies clean grease traps?
Many do, since the vacuum trucks are similar. Several of the haulers on Sioux City, Iowa's approved grease hauler list are septic companies. Ask whether the company is on your city's approved list, if it keeps one.
Why do some companies charge per gallon?
Disposal is billed by volume. In a Texas school district's 2025 bid, haul and disposal ran $0.20 to $1.95 a gallon. Tarrant County's bidders charged $0.25 to $0.55 for each gallon beyond the base visit. Ask whether a per-gallon quote bills the trap's capacity or the gallons actually pumped.
Estimates only — independent local providers quote their own pricing. Data last reviewed 2026-10.
Sources
- Greasecycle — Grease Trap Pumping Cost, North Carolina industry pricing (Sep 8, 2025)
- Tarrant County, TX — RFB 2023-033 award tabulation, grease and sand trap cleaning (2023, PDF)
- IDEA Public Schools — #05-IFB-CNP-2223 Grease Trap Cleaning Services bid tabulation (Mar 2025, PDF)
- Grease Trap Locator — Grease Trap Cleaning Cost: Real Bid Prices (updated Sep 23, 2026)
- City of Sioux City, IA — Understanding Grease Removal and the 25% Rule (PDF)
- EPA — Controlling Fats, Oils, and Grease Discharges from Food Service Establishments (EPA-833-F-12-003, Sep 2012)
- EPA — National Pretreatment Program (updated Aug 31, 2026)
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