Recycling Motor Oil Gets Easier

Disposing of used motor oil has always been a problem for back-yard mechanics, but acting in an environmentally safe way is getting easier.

About 60% of motorists change their own oil, generating about 200 million gallons of the thick, black, toxic stuff each year.

That’s great for saving money, but it’s absolute torture on the environment.

About 180 million gallons of that oil is dumped down sewers, on the ground and in the trash each year; just 20 million gallons, or 10%, is disposed of properly.

If all the dumped oil washed up on Southern California shores, it would rank as the biggest U.S. oil spill in history. The Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound was 11 million gallons. Used motor oil contains cancer-causing substances and toxic heavy metals, so it is nothing to throw out carelessly.

Several major oil companies and auto-parts suppliers accept used motor oil at retail outlets, solving the old problem of nobody wanting to take it.

Exxon, the world’s largest oil company, has just begun a nationwide program to accept without charge up to five gallons of used motor oil from consumers. About 3,000 of Exxon’s 10,500 service stations are participating. To find the nearest outlet, call (800) 732-1100.

Mobil, Shell and Texaco, among others, also are starting recycling programs, industry sources say. And a number of auto-parts chains, including Kragen and Chief, will accept used oil.

All the programs require that the used oil be free of water, solvents, paints or pesticides that would make it a hazardous material. Exxon has a special sniffing device that identifies contaminated oil.

If you have contaminated oil, locate a hazardous recycling center by calling the state Waste Management Board recycling hot line: (800) 553-2962.

Exxon hopes the environmental program will head off federal regulations that would make it more difficult for consumers to dispose of oil, a company spokesman said. The company estimates it will cost an average of 10 cents per gallon to recycle the oil it collects, an annual expense of $300,000. That’s cheap compared to the cost it could face if the government requires mandatory recycling.

Indeed, some environmental groups want the federal Environmental Protection Agency to designate used motor oil as a hazardous waste, an official classification that would make handling the substance far more onerous than is now the case.

The full burden of the federal regulatory system would be brought to bear on what is essentially a rules-free system for disposing of used motor oil.

About 15% of properly recycled motor oil ends up as re-refined motor oil. The other 85% is used as industrial fuel. If the oil were classified as hazardous waste, burning it would be a more difficult proposition.

If all 180 million gallons of used oil were burned, enough energy could be generated to power up to 360,000 homes each year. So, recycling dirty oil would not only save the environment but also cut our nation’s need for oil imports.