What is Motor Oil?
Motor oil is a Hazardous Household Waste that is commercially recyclable. It is used in car engines to lubricate the moving parts, prevent rusting, and provide cooling. Motor oil needs to be changed every so often, usually after a car has been driven 3,000 miles. However, being oil, it is toxic and must be disposed of safely. Luckily, uncontaminated motor oil can be recycled, because, barring contamination, it never wears out, it just gets dirty.
How can something that’s already a contaminant be uncontaminated?
Motor oil is only a contaminant when it winds up somewhere it’s not meant to be, such as in a person’s eyes (Next time, take off your gloves before wiping your brow.). That said, used motor oil, barring unusual circumstances, is not contaminated by anything that would interfere in the recycling process, such as antifreeze or water. Uncontaminated just means that nothing is mixed into the oil that wasn’t in it when it was taken out of the engine. This is important, because contaminated motor oil can’t be recycled, only disposed of. (Important note: despite being derived from the same original material, gasoline is a contaminant to motor oil.)
Where do I take it?
Used motor oil can be disposed of at an oil recycling facility. Search for one near you.
Do I have to? It’s just oil.
It is estimated that Californians produce over 100 million gallons of waste oil every year. Only 1/10th of this is recycled at present. Half of the 100 million is sent over seas, where it is typically burned in open chimneys. While this generates power, it also releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere.
Also, it costs 2/3rds less energy to recycle motor oil into lubricant oil than it costs to make lubricant oil from crude. It makes economic sense to recycle it. And because California state law mandates incentives for recyclers, the companies that process the used oil benefit as well. Even you benefit, because when you take your used oil to a certified recycling facility, you can get $0.40 for every gallon you bring in!
The oil I have is contaminated. What can I do with it?
You can’t recycle it, unfortunately. You’ll have to find a disposal center. Drop it off there, and next time, try to avoid contamination by keeping other substances out of the oil. Don’t use containers that held chemicals such as bleach to store the used oil.
