Man concerned about polluting near Lake Worth Burger King, says he witnessed employee dumping oil

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/lake-worth/man-concerned-about-polluting-near-lake-worth-burger-king

A South Florida man was disturbed when he saw a Burger King employee preparing to dump a container of liquid down a storm drain in the parking lot of the restaurant, so he grabbed his phone and started recording.

According to Joe May, the video he captured shows an employee dumping a vat of something down the storm drain near the Lantana Road location.

” I said, ‘Sir, is that oil’, he said yeah,” said May. “I said, ‘You’re going to put it right in there,’ he said ‘uh huh’. I said, ‘Hold on a minute,’ so I took out my phone and started videotaping him.”

What’s the big deal? We asked environmentalist Mark Perry, the executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society.

“Whatever is going to be put in the water that’s going down the storm drain is going to be a problem,” said Perry.

Maybe not a big problem but it all adds up when it comes to our oceans and lakes.

“It’s still a question of how long he’s been doing it and how much volume is actually going through the storm drain, which ends up in our waterways,” explained Perry.

We called Burger King in Lake Worth for answers but a woman claiming to be the manager had no comment and hung up. We also reached out to a spokesperson for the company but have not heard back.

However, Burger King’s “commitment to the environment” section on the company website reads, in part: “We know that recycling and waste management are two of our biggest environmental challenges. … We continuously review our policies on … environmental impact to ensure that we remain good corporates (sic) citizens in the communities we serve.”

Business Insider highlights some “terrible” and gross things that could happen if grease and oil is poured down the drain. It could not only clog and block the pipes that take dirty water to treatment plants.

A “fatberg” could also form, which is what a utility company named a nearly 17-ton blob of fat found in the sewers of London.

According to CBS, an “unlucky team” had to “blast” the built-up fat with high-powered water jets.

WPTV has called the Burger King in Florida for answers. They haven’t heard back.