The Benefits Of Reusing And Recycling Used Oil
Recycling and reusing used motor oil is preferable to disposal and can provide great environmental benefits. Recycled used motor oil can be re-refined into new oil, processed into fuel oils, and used as raw materials for the petroleum industry.
Use the below resources to find recycling locations near you:
Used oils such as engine lubrication oil, hydraulic fluids, and gear oils used in cars, bikes, or lawnmowers can pollute the environment if they are not recycled or disposed of properly. Used oil must be managed properly by local waste management authorities or automotive repair shops to prevent contaminating the environment. Used oil filters pose similar waste concerns. If properly drained, they can be safely recycled or disposed.
Some of the many reasons to reuse and recycle used oil include:
- Recycling used oil keeps it from polluting soil and water.
- Motor oil does not wear outit just gets dirtyso recycling it saves a valuable resource.
- Less energy is required to produce a gallon of re-refined base stock than a base stock from crude oil.
- One gallon of used motor oil provides the same 2.5 quarts of lubricating oil as 42 gallons of crude oil.
Carefully Transfer The Dirty Oil
- Using a funnel, pour the oil into a clean, leak-proof container with a tight-fitting lid-a rigid plastic container such as a plastic milk jug works well. Be careful not to overfill the container!
- Don’t put used oil in containers that held chemicals like bleach, pesticides, paint, or antifreeze-they can contain residues that contaminate the oil. Avoid paint cans and other metal containers.
- Seal the bottle and label it as Used Oil.
- Power steering, transmission, and brake fluids can also be brought to used oil collection sites in separate containers .
- Never mix solvents, gasoline, or antifreeze with your used oil. Once contaminated with these products, it is difficult or impossible to recycle used motor oil. If your oil does become contaminated, label the container and take it to your local Household Hazardous Waste collection site for disposal. Don’t take it to an oil recycling site where it could contaminate the tank, making the contents impossible to recycle and expensive to dispose of.
Check The Owner’s Manual
Its also possible to see if you need an oil change without even opening the bonnet. Your car manual will outline the number of miles you can drive before changing your oil, so a straightforward calculation should help you to decide if you need to take action. Vehicle manufacturers used to advise drivers to change the oil every 3,000 miles, but thanks to improvements in the lubricants now used in cars, this figure is usually much higher.
Also, lots of modern cars keep track of scheduled oil changes themselves. If your vehicle does this, a warning light will appear on your dashboard when your next change is due.
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Does The Program Recycle Cooking Oil
No, Albertas used oil materials recycling program exclusively helps fund the collection and processing of lubricating oil e.g., engine oil, oil filters, and oil containers only. Please consult with your local municipality on how to safely handle cooking oil, fats, grease, and other household waste.
Why Is It Important To Recycle Used Lubricating Oil Materials
Used lubricating oil e.g. automotive oil is considered a hazardous waste. Rather than contaminating our waterways and land, it can be collected, processed, and put to good use again through recycling.
Oil filters and containers are valuable products. Rather than sending them to landfill, they can help fuel our economy and be transformed into valuable new products.
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Get Your Oil Ready For Transportation
When you’re done, you may need to transfer your oil from your drip pan to another container for storage and transportation, but it’s important to select one that’s appropriate. Don’t use milk cartons, empty juice containers, or any other random container you may have lying around the house. If you happen to have the original container the oil came in, you should use that. Otherwise, you’ll want to use something made of polyethylene or another plastic deemed suitable for the purpose. Also, some oil pans are made such that they can be sealed closed. These pans make it easy to contain and transport used oil.
Motor oil that’s been mixed with other fluids isn’t recyclable, so take care not to let yours mingle with washer fluid, gasoline, or any other liquid . Make sure your storage container has never been used to store other fluids at any point, even if it was a long time ago.
Why Should You Recycle Motor Oil
If you already handle your own oil changes , you’ve most likely had someone tell you how important it is that you recycle your used oil. Is recycling really that important though? What’s the worst that could happen if you just toss it in the garbage or dump it down the drain? Surely one person’s choice not to bother doesn’t make that big a difference, right? Actually, one batch of oil from a single oil change can make a massive difference one way or the other. Here’s how:
- As anyone who’s ever dealt with oil knows all too well, it sticks to pretty much everything it touches, including water. Pouring your used oil into the gutter, down a storm drain, or anywhere else it shouldn’t go can contaminate bodies of water like lakes, oceans, and rivers. It can also harm or kill the animals and plants that call it home.
- The amount of oil involved in just one oil change has the potential to affect up to a million gallons of water.
- It’s actually illegal to dispose of your used motor oil incorrectly, so insisting on doing so could carry serious repercussions. You may be fined, face jail time, or be held responsible for any clean-up costs. Those can definitely cost a pretty penny.
The process of recycling used motor oil is actually pretty simple. Here’s how you can go about doing a thorough job each and every time your ride is due for a fresh batch.
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Where To Bring Used Oil
Counties and municipalities often operate hazardous-waste collection sites where you can bring your used oil for recycling. In addition, where local regulations permit, most auto-parts stores including Advance, Auto Zone, Napa and OReilly collect used oil. These collection sites are the only legal places to dispose of used motor oil.
Why Does Engine Oil Run Out
Thanks to the extreme heat and pressures inside car engines, oil degrades over time and becomes less able to protect your engine, so youd eventually have no oil left in your engine at all if you didnt top up regularly. If your car is reaching a ripe old age, then the seals and gaskets may not be as tight as they once were, letting small amounts of oil leak out too. IMPORTANT: if your car is leaving puddles of oil on your driveway or you have to top up every few weeks, visit a mechanic as soon as possible, as oil leaks can lead to bigger, more expensive problems as time progresses. Pop into a Halfords Autocentre or book an appointment.
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How It Works: Recycling Used Oil And Oil Filters
Used oil can be re-refined into lubricants, processed into fuel oils, and used as raw materials for the refining and petrochemical industries. Additionally, used oil filters contain reusable scrap metal, which steel producers can reuse as scrap feed.
So, how is used oil recycled? Note that the most preferred option, re-refined oilmust meet the same stringent refining, compounding, and performance standards as virgin oil for use in automotive, heavy-duty diesel, and other internal combustion engines, and hydraulic fluids and gear oils. Extensive laboratory testing and field studies conclude that re-refined oil is equivalent to virgin oilit passes all prescribed tests and, in some situations, even outperforms virgin oil.
The same consumers and businesses that use regular oil also can use re-refined oil, since re-refining simply re-processes used oil into new, high-quality lubricating oil. Any vehicle maintenance facilities, automobile owners, and other machinery maintenance operations that use oil also can use re-refined oil. In some cases, fleet maintenance facilities that use large volumes of oil arrange to reuse the same oil that they send to be re-refineda true closed recycling loop.
Autozones Used Oil Recycling Program
One can never be too careful when handling used engine oil. AutoZone is one of the most trusted retailers in the automotive parts industry, offering expert advice and quality products to keep your vehicle running smoothly.
The company takes great care in disposing of their used oil properly, but how do they go about doing it?
The AutoZone product recovery process ensures that the oil gets recycled, not dumped in a landfill.
So, their used motor oil is collected from hundreds of stores and sent to a processing plant, where its filtered and tested to ensure it meets quality standards for re-refining.
AutoZone recycles used motor oils by collecting them from customers at no charge through its Oil Care recycling program.
AutoZone offers its customers convenient drop-off locations for recycling oil. Customers can also take used oil to their local AutoZone store, which will handle this process for them on the spot.
One of their most significant projects for AutoZone in 2017 was to recycle thousands of gallons of used oil from Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants across the country.
AutoZone uses used motor oil to manufacture all of its products. This reduces their costs and helps them keep prices low for consumers.
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What Should You Do With Successfully Collected Oil
Depending on where you live, you may be able to turn your used motor oil in via your cityâs curbside recycling program. If your city does allow for this, make sure you carefully research packaging requirements and protocol. If curbside recycling for motor oil isnât a possibility in your city, then youâll need to make plans to drop it off yourself at a participating recycling center.
Donât worry if youâre not quite sure where to take your oil or if the nearest recycling center is a little off the beaten trail for you. Most AutoZone stores accept used motor oil, as well as other sensitive recyclables . Get in touch with your friendly neighborhood location today for all the details. When youâre done dropping off your used oil, you can pick up a fresh jug of new engine oil while youâre there. Get started today!
Advice, how-to guides, and car care information featured on AutoZone.com and AutoZone Advice & How-Toâs are presented as helpful resources for general maintenance and automotive repairs from a general perspective only and should be used at your own risk. Information is accurate and true to the best of AutoZoneâs knowledge, however, there may be omissions, errors or mistakes.
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Q: Who Picks Up Used Oil
Ans: This is one of the questions that should never worry you. There are many AutoZone stores out here that accept used motor oil and therefore, all you need is conduct an online search on the store near you. Other than AutoZone stores, many local used oil facilities pick up used oil for recycling purposes. Some of those facilities include transfer stations, landfill sites, and waste management centers, and therefore, all you need is call or make a visit to their sites to find out whether they accept used oil.
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Why Recycle Used Oil?
Did you know that used motor oil never wears out? It just gets dirty and can be recycled, cleaned, and used again. Recycling used motor oil conserves a natural resource and is good for the environment too! Motor oil poured onto the ground or into storm drains, or tossed into trash cans can contaminate and pollute the soil, groundwater, streams, and rivers. Recycling your used motor oil reduces this pollution threat. When you take your used oil to a certified center for recycling, you are protecting the environment, conserving a valuable resource, and getting paid for it. That’s a winning combination!
About Certified Centers
CalRecycle encourages the recycling of used motor oil by certifying used oil recycling collection centers throughout the state. Certified Used Oil Collection Centers will take used motor oil from the public and will pay you 40¢ a gallon. Most centers will take up to 5 gallons at a time.
What About Contaminated Oil?
Certified center managers will not accept used motor oil that has been contaminated with other fluids such as antifreeze, solvents, gasoline, or water. So please, don’t mix your used oil with anything. However, if your used oil accidentally gets contaminated, your certified center manager can tell you where to take it for proper disposal. Alternatively, you can get information from your local government contact about how to deal with your suspected contaminated oil.
Basic Information On Handling Used Oil At Home
If you are one of the many people who change their own motor oil, you too need to know how to properly manage the used oil. After all, used oil from one oil change can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water a years supply for 50 people! When handling used oil, be sure to take these key points into consideration:
- Used motor oil is insoluble, persistent, and can contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
- Its slow to degrade.
- It sticks to everything from beach sand to bird feathers.
- Its a major source of oil contamination of waterways and can result in pollution of drinking water sources.
Are you a Do-It Yourselfer do you change the oil in your car at home? On average, about four million people reuse motor oil as a lubricant for other equipment or take it to a recycling facility. If you plan to recycle your used oil, take care not to spill any when you collect it and place it in a leak-proof can or container.
Check with local automobile maintenance facilities, waste collectors, and government waste officials to see when and where you can drop off your used oil for recycling. Dont forget to drain and recycle used oil filters as wellusually you can drop off the filters at the same collection centers where you deposit used oil.
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Why You Must Recycle
Small quantities of motor oil can do quite a bit of damage to the environment. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , the used oil from one oil change can contaminate one million gallons of water. The EPA also notes that used oil can contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals that may affect the health of people and wildlife.
Recycled oil actually goes through a re-refining process that makes it suitable for use in vehicles again. In fact, EPA lab testing shows recycled oil can outperform virgin oil in some situations. Reclaiming oil in this way not only keeps the spent oil out of the environment, but significantly reduces the need for new oil. Although it takes 42 gallons of crude oil to produce 2-1/2 quarts of refined virgin motor oil, re-refining creates that same amount of engine-ready product from only one gallon of used oil. Furthermore, re-refining uses far less energy to process.
How Can Kwik Fit Help
If youre not sure whether your car needs new oil, or you dont fancy the job of changing your oil yourself, dont hesitate to get in touch with the team at Kwik Fit. Our oil and filter change package;includes an oil and filter change, as well as a range of other important car safety checks. This could be ideal if you want to ensure your engines running smoothly but you dont want to arrange a full service.
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Benefits Of Recycling Used Motor Oil
Recycling used motor oil is always considered the best disposal method as it comes along with many benefits. The recycled oil can be used for many applications, including being refined into new oils, being processed into fuel oils, and also use as raw materials in the petroleum industry. Some of those benefits that come along with recycling the used oil has been explained below.
Sustainability. To this benefit, recycling is always considered as the best option to manage used oil. The oil is not only crucial in helping produce newly recycled products but also help in saving the oil that would be extracted from the ground. More to this, recycling the oil also aids in closing the environmental loop of the used oil; therefore, playing a part in enhancing sustainability.
Environmental. Recycling the used oil comes along with many ecological benefits. The most primary benefit is eliminating the risk of causing harm to the natural environment. In addition to this, the carbon footprint that is found in the recycled oil is always lower than the one produced in the virgin crude oil. These environmental benefits can be summarized into;
- It helps prevent both soil and water pollution.
- The recycling process helps save valuable resources that would be used in extracting virgin crude oil for refinery.
With these and many more benefits, we, therefore, have a reason to take in recycling any used oil we get from our automotive.
