Restaurants and other businesses can help prevent pollution to Arlington's neighborhood streams and ponds. Follow these best practices, and remember, only rain in the storm drain!
How you clean your back-of-house is just as important as having a clean back-of-house.
Implementing preventative practices to avoid drips and spills will help ensure that your back-of-house is clean and in compliance with health, fire and stormwater inspectors.
If a spill happens, it is important to use dry cleanup methods such as sweeping, shoveling or using a shop vacuum to stay in compliance with stormwater regulations.
Why are dry methods of cleanup required? Because only clean, clear water is permitted to enter the storm drain system.
Wash water, including water from power washing, may not enter the storm drain system per County Code 26.7 C.
Storm drains connect to the County’s pipe network and send water and pollution directly to Arlington’s streams without any treatment. Do not treat these as trash cans. Dirty wash water and food scraps are prohibited from entering them per County Code: 26.7 C.
Many of the sources of stormwater pollution also attract vermin like rats and roaches to your restaurant. Stormwater violations will result in monetary penalties.
How you clean your back-of-house is just as important as having a clean back-of-house.
Mop water and washwater from cleaning mats must be disposed of in a mop sink or similar sink INDOORS; never outside.
If inspectors find evidence of the following, dry cleanup methods will be required and a notice of violation and possible monetary penalty may be issued.
❌ Cleaning mats outside.
❌ Dumping mop buckets outside.
❌ Releasing any materials from your business into a storm drain.
Washwater, including water from power washing, may not enter the storm drain system per County Code 26.7 C.
Dirty washwater, oil and grease, and debris that washes or is dumped into storm drains goes directly to local streams and is a violation of County Code 26.7 C.
If inspectors find evidence of pollutants like these entering a storm drain, dry cleanup methods will be required and a monetary penalty may be issued.
Sweep it up, soak it up. Bag it, and trash it.
Nothing from your business may go down the storm drain.
Dry Cleanup for Waste Oil Containers
Do not leave oil and grease on the container or on the ground.
Use an absorbent pad to soak up spilled oil and grease.
Scrape up dried grease with a scraper. Dispose of the grease in the trash.
Scrape up the top layer of dried grease on the ground with a shovel. Sprinkle the absorbent material on the grease spot and work the material into the grease with a broom.
Sweep up the absorbent material and grease, bag it, and dispose of it in the trash.
How you clean your back-of-house is just as important as having a clean back-of-house.
Implement the following best practices to keep trash and waste cooking oil where they belong—in their waste containers.
Lids are closed.
Containers are in good condition. They are not leaking, and do not have cracks, holes or rusted areas.
Ground surrounding the container is clean and free of trash and grease stains.
Containers are covered with a roof, ensuring that rainwater will not get into them.
Wash water, including water from power washing, and leaked “dumpster juice” may not enter the storm drain system per County Code 26.7 C.
Waste Receptacles: What NOT to Do—What Inspectors Notice
A rusted, damaged container or one that is missing its plug or leaks should be replaced with a container that is in good condition.
Wash water from hosing out dumpsters is not allowed to enter the storm drain. Power washing is not permitted unless the washwater does not enter the storm drain and is collected and disposed of in a janitor sink.
Waste cooking oil and overflowing dumpsters attract vermin like rats and roaches to your restaurant.
How you clean your back-of-house is just as important as having a clean back-of-house.
Taking care to avoid spills is the best policy. For example, carry waste cooking oil in small buckets covered with a tight-fitting lid. But for when spills occur, keep your spill kit in a convenient location and communicate to your staff where it is located.
Push broom with dustpan
Shovel with a blunt tip and small, hand-held scrapers
Absorbent materials—pads, boom, and loose material
Contractor-grade trash bags
All of these products are readily available at local hardware stores and through online vendors. These photos are strictly for informational purposes. Arlington County cannot recommend specific vendors or products.