Ban on Synthetic

Spitty · Nov 30, 2004

I went to the Municipal yard this afternoon to dump a couple of gallons of used motor oil in the re-cycle tank, in front of the tank there is a sign stating what you can, and can't dump, among the list of prohibited fluids is 'Synthetic Lubricants'. I asked the Guy on duty about this, he just shrugged his shoulders and gave me the 1 800 # of the re-cycleing hot line, however by the time I got to call, the office was closed.

Can anyone shed light on why synthetics can't be re-cycled?

moribundman · Nov 30, 2004

What were you told to do with your old syn lube?

Pablo · Nov 30, 2004

Sounds a bit bureaucratic.

If the oil is burned for energy, no biggie - if it's re-refined, no biggie.

Me thinks this is more directed at brake fluid and maybe gear oil.........I dunno. Let us know what they say!

[ November 30, 2004, 11:12 PM: Message edited by: Pablo ]

Al · Nov 30, 2004

The lesson learned is that you don't have synthetic to dump

. My place doesn't allow ATF. So my oil is not ATF by definition

XS650 · Nov 30, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by moribundman:
What were you told to do with your old syn lube?

Let's keep this clean.

jcarnut · Nov 30, 2004

You may have an auto parts place that accepts used oil including SYN. We do in our state.

c_rossman · Nov 30, 2004

How are the going to tell the difference? I sure cant tell by an UOA can you? Just dump it in!

jthorner · Nov 30, 2004

What nonsense. I would not worry one bit about the silly sign, just dump your use motor oils, synthetic or not, at will. There is no way for them to tell and it doesn't matter to the downstream processes.

Rubbish!

John

Spitty · Nov 30, 2004

The oil I had was from several drainings, mixed in a large container, I did not want to risk having to take it back home, so I dumped it and told the guy it was Dino.
Other fluids on the Banned list are ATF, solvent, brake fluid and antifreeze.

goodoleboy · Nov 30, 2004

I noticed that walmart now has their oil tub moved to a locked location and only the employee can dump the used oil. I guess to much non-oil getting in their.

cousincletus · Nov 30, 2004

I would just dump used antifreeze down the sink. The treatment plant can handle it. I used to work for a chemical company and they would dump 4,000 gallons at a time (up to 2 tankers a day) of some kind of industrial waste into the treatment plant. I'm sure a gal. or 2 of used antifreeze won't hurt a thing. For brake fluid I bleed it onto the driveway and forget about it. It's water soluble.

JR · Dec 3, 2004

This may be off topic but I have heared that if you have a oil furnace and you burn syn oil it won't burn right and clog and prug the furnace all up.

Audi Junkie · Dec 3, 2004

I have a drain pan that got 1/2 full of rainwater on top of the oil.

My plan is to freeze the mix in a bucket and pull the water off as a chunk of ice. Any reason not to do this? My WalMart lets me DIY recycle without any questions. It seems fair to return to the place you buy (most, not GC) of your oil. Synth has a higher flashpoint, I wonder if that makes it bad for burning?

Kestas · Dec 3, 2004

JR, I don't think your post is off topic at all. A lot of the recycled oil ends up as fuel for diesel engines on ocean liners. There's a good chance that oil gathered at Spittys municipality goes for that purpose. If what you say is true that ban may have come from the final user.

JohnBrowning · Dec 4, 2004

My Loaction handles coolant down the drain at home. ATF, Dino and Synthetic can all be recycled together. If a place has a silly sign restricting ATF or Synthetic just mix the ATF in with oil really well and do not mention that it is synthetic. No reputable company is going to use the used oil as it is. They rerefine it after it is filtered. Then either barrel the various stocks or reblend.

Now I do know of garages that use used oil in their furnace for heat and they run it just as it comes out of the car. They do go through more filters dureing the winter but the cost is nothing compared to cost of heating oil. Some places actualy run a mix of motor oil and coolant! The EPA offers plans on how to build an oil and coolant burning furnace.

You are not going to harm the enviroment.

garyb80 · Dec 4, 2004

quote:

I have a drain pan that got 1/2 full of rainwater on top of the oil. My plan is to freeze the mix in a bucket and pull the water off as a chunk of ice.

Wouldn't the water sink to the bottom of the container? How did you get the water to float on oil?

SteveD2 · Dec 4, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
The EPA offers plans on how to build an oil and coolant burning furnace.

Got any links?

Palut · Dec 4, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by cousincletus:
I would just dump used antifreeze down the sink. The treatment plant can handle it. I used to work for a chemical company and they would dump 4,000 gallons at a time (up to 2 tankers a day) of some kind of industrial waste into the treatment plant. I'm sure a gal. or 2 of used antifreeze won't hurt a thing. For brake fluid I bleed it onto the driveway and forget about it. It's water soluble.

Just because its water soluble doesn't mean its benign. All the trouble the EPA has gotten into over MTBE is a good example of that.

Cousincletus: I'm not trying to refute what you say, don't worry about that. I don't know a thing about brake fluid. Just trying to show the distinction between the terms.

JohnBrowning · Dec 5, 2004

ZMOZ Look in th back of Popular Mechanic or Popular Electronics in the classified section. When I was a kid the plans were always in the back. You might also try the publo catalog.

XS650 · Dec 5, 2004

ZMOZ

The Mother Earth News waste oil heater is one of the better known ones. It's just for oil, not coolant

Waste Oil Heater

The plans have been around for 20 years, so there should be lot of info on it that your friend Mr Google can find.

Ban on Synthetic

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