Treatment of liquid waste

An electrocatalytic process for treating liquid waste material comprising passing the liquid waste material to be treated between, and in contact with, electrodes of at least one pair of spaced apart electrodes, the or each electrode pair comprising a steel anode and a cathode spaced therefrom, and applying a dc potential across the electrodes, wherein the liquid waste material contains oily, fatty and/or greasy substances, the or each cathode comprises a substrate of a first material, and a covering layer of a second metallic material, said first metallic material comprising a steel substrate and the second metallic material comprising nickel, cadmium, titanium or a matrix of these materials arranged to provide ferro-nickel, ferro-cadmium or ferro-titanium interfaces contacting the liquid waste material, and the oily, fatty and/or greasy substances are at least partially decomposed by molecular breakdown when close to, or in contact with, the cathode(s) and are dissociated into gaseous or liquid products.