How Does Used Oil Recycling Protect the Environment?

Sometimes non-affectionately called Black Gold, crude oil has been an important topic of conversation for decades. Whether you're watching financial reports and hear quotes of “cost-per-barrel” or there's been another oil spill and petroleum producers are being made to pay billions in penalties and clean-up costs, oil is an important aspect of your everyday life. But with all the hoopla surrounding everything from our overall dependence on oil to lowering the cost of your energy through shale frocking, not much is being said about an incredibly viable solution for energy savings right in front of our noses. We're talking about petroleum re-refining, which is the most practical means of used oil recycling.

Benefits of Used Oil Recycling

Used oil recycling saves money, energy and the environment. It reduces the need to keep producing crude and slows the depletion of an important, non-sustainable resource (crude oil). If that wasn't enough, used oil recycling also protects our most precious, life-sustaining resource on the planet — cleans drinking water. One gallon of improperly disposed motor oil is capable of poisoning one-million gallons of fresh water, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize how important it is to keep used oil from entering our precious water supplies in Alberta.

Have you ever wondered how many backyard mechanics changing the oil in their cars or trucks have used the logic that, since oil comes out of the ground anyway, where's the harm in dumping this used oil back where it came from? The harm, in fact, is devastating!

Who is Responsible?

According to statistics kept by the American Petroleum Institute (API), approximately 600-million gallons of automotive oil is bought annually, with more than one-half being purchased by do-it-yourselfers – those people who change their own car oil and filters.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 40 percent of improperly disposed of motor oil is dumped into the ground, down storm drains or into landfills comes from those dyers. What is improper disposal? The fact is, getting rid of used oil in any way other than either recycling it through the re-refining process or burning it as a fuel amounts to improper disposal.

Taking your used oil in to be recycled is easy and uncomplicated. Most every town or city has recycling facilities where hazardous materials can be dropped off for proper disposal and these facilities will take your oil which, in many jurisdictions, is actually classified as Haz Mat. If you have a company that generates hundreds of gallons of used oil, you can contact an oil-recycling contractor to come and pick up your stock which, in many cases, is not only free but may even generate some cash for you.

At Little Dipper, we're in the business of recycling used oil and educating others about the extreme importance of all oil recycling efforts. Contact us for information or advice on what you can do for your part. We operate throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan.