CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Oil Recycling Bill Calls for Deposit

California motorists who change their own oil will have more legal places to dump the used black goo if legislation approved in the Assembly becomes law. The measure, by Assemblyman Byron Sher (D-Palo Alto), would slap a nickel-a-quart surcharge on the sale of new motor oil and use the proceeds to entice service stations and oil-change specialists to accept used oil from the general public. The state’s motorists generated 137 million gallons of used oil in 1988. But only 46% of that was recycled, according to a state study. The problem, Sher said, is that the study shows 60% of car owners change their own oil and only 5% of them properly dispose of the used oil. The rest dump it into storm drains, stick it in their back yard, leave it alongside country roads or throw it in the trash.