Rare News Desk
A video shot last week of a suburban Lantana Burger King employee pouring used cooking oil down a storm drain has prompted state and local investigations, the firing of the general manager and an apology from the fast-food restaurant’s owner.
Videos by Rare
Joseph May, 23, was on his way to pick up food for his family at a Chili’s when he saw the employee pushing a container of oil across the Burger King parking lot at Lantana and Jog roads. He asked the employee if the liquid in the container was oil, and the employee is shown on video, which May posted on social media, saying yes. Then May asks if he’s pouring it down the drain, and the employee responds yes.
“It was steaming,” May of suburban Lake Worth told The Palm Beach Post. “You could see chunks of fried goods, particles. It was black.”
May went into the Burger King, while still filming, and asked to speak to a manager. Other employees pointed to a woman who refused to respond to May except to tell him to stop filming. Another employee, a younger man, said “sorry” to May.
The location’s owner, Johannah Estep, told The Palm Beach Post that the employee did pour the oil down the storm drain, and the store’s general manager has since been fired for “performance-related issues.”
Estep said she was unaware the employee had poured the oil down the drain until she was contacted by her employees Friday morning.
“To my knowledge, this has never happened before,” she said. Estep said she doesn’t know why it happened, but, “all we know is that it did happen.”
Estep said she started investigating the situation once she was informed, and had crews come Monday morning to start cleaning it. She said she called Greenacres on Monday morning to see what should be done. Then the Department of Environmental Protection showed up.
DEP arrived at the fast food restaurant about 11 a.m., according to spokesman Jason Mahon. Burger King officials admitted to DEP that the oil was poured in the drain, and the company hired a contractor to pump everything out of the drain.
The situation is now mostly an enforcement issue through Palm Beach County, Mahon said, since the county holds the permits.
“So the onus is on them to make sure this is cleaned up,” he said. “They are responsible for enforcing everything involved in the laws here. So if they fail to complete their responsibility, we would step in.”
As far as if the restaurant’s actions were illegal, Mahon said: “It’s safe to say that this is breaking a regulation.”
“It’s just a matter of you can’t dump grease down a storm drain because it could end up somewhere hurting the environment, obviously.”
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Environmental Crimes Unit has an open investigation into the situation, spokeswoman Teri Barbera confirmed. She said it is in the beginning stages.
Estep said the restaurant usually disposes of the oil through equipment in the store and then a truck comes to dispose of it.
“This should have never happened,” she said. “This is not something we condone and we apologize to the community and to our guests.”
After hearing that Burger King admitted to dumping the oil and that an investigation has been opened, May said it was “good news.”
But, he still wonders if it has happened before.
“I’ve lived here for 21 out of 23 years. I go to the beach every month, you don’t do that,” he said. “I’m out here fishing with me and my father and friends, out swimming in the lakes, swimming in the beach. It’s going to wind up back in the water supply. You don’t do that.”
