Recycling a "water bottle" with engine oil stain, possible?

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Jan 4, 2021
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I try to be environmental-friendly as much as I can, leveraing our town's recycling center to dump old oils, filters and containers, as we try all do.

One time, I used an empty water bottle (dried), cut the bottom and used it as a funnel (which actually fit perfectly for our SUV as the fill cap is rather "deep"). This method was convenient as I don't have to clean up, produce another piece of trash (a shop towel with oil stain) and just dump the bottle in our recycling bin.

However, a friend of mine said that this particular bottle CANNOT be recycled and I shouldn't do that. I am taking his advice since I have more than a few funnels with various lengths, and a flexible funnel which is really easy to clean up.

Is this true? I maybe splitting hairs here but I thought NOT wasting / discarding a oil-stained paper towel was "better / less worse" then a water bottle with oil stain (which I thought could be recycled).

Any feedback / insights will be appreciated, as usual!
 
You're a good person. Remeember it's reduce, reuse, recycle.

I would follow the directions for "oil bottles" as that's what this is, now, effectively.
 
Most places dump their "recycled" plastic in the landfill like everything else. I would check your local jurisdiction before I put a bunch of energy into it. Fair warning - prepare to be disappointed.
Agreed. As far as I know, very little of our recycling stream actually gets recycled. There are also too many contaminated things in our recycling stream.
 
Thanks for your quick, great feedback. Our recycling center has various "sections": 1) used oil (in a large tank), 2) empty oil container, 3) old oil filters, and 4) batteries. Maybe I can dump a water bottle (with oil stain), if I use it again, with the empty oil containers?? I have no idea where all these go but at least they are trying to separate each.
 
I try to be environmental-friendly as much as I can, leveraing our town's recycling center to dump old oils, filters and containers, as we try all do.

One time, I used an empty water bottle (dried), cut the bottom and used it as a funnel (which actually fit perfectly for our SUV as the fill cap is rather "deep"). This method was convenient as I don't have to clean up, produce another piece of trash (a shop towel with oil stain) and just dump the bottle in our recycling bin.

However, a friend of mine said that this particular bottle CANNOT be recycled and I shouldn't do that. I am taking his advice since I have more than a few funnels with various lengths, and a flexible funnel which is really easy to clean up.

Is this true? I maybe splitting hairs here but I thought NOT wasting / discarding a oil-stained paper towel was "better / less worse" then a water bottle with oil stain (which I thought could be recycled).

Any feedback / insights will be appreciated, as usual!
The bottom of the bottle must have a recycle symbol then it will have a number in the arrow symbol. Check with your local ordinance to see what they allow. I've added a recycling guide to help.
Recycling guide numbers
 
Thanks for your quick, great feedback. Our recycling center has various "sections": 1) used oil (in a large tank), 2) empty oil container, 3) old oil filters, and 4) batteries. Maybe I can dump a water bottle (with oil stain), if I use it again, with the empty oil containers?? I have no idea where all these go but at least they are trying to separate each.
It all looks nice being separated, but as others have said very little of what you see will actually get recycled. I have a friend that works for a garbage service and he said a lot of plastic hits the landfill or gets burned at a local power plant because it is too dirty to recycle.

Even though oil bottles say recyclable, I can't recycle them here because they are contaminated with oil.
 
It all looks nice being separated, but as others have said very little of what you see will actually get recycled. I have a friend that works for a garbage service and he said a lot of plastic hits the landfill or gets burned at a local power plant because it is too dirty to recycle.

Even though oil bottles say recyclable, I can't recycle them here because they are contaminated with oil.
Thanks and I was thinking along the same line as a friend who works in the hospitality industry talked about PET, PE, etc for recycling (especially for the hotel industry).....I will certainly stop contaminating additional bottles with oil...God knows I consume / discard alot of engine oils with 3 cars in the garage :)
 
Thanks and I was thinking along the same line as a friend who works in the hospitality industry talked about PET, PE, etc for recycling (especially for the hotel industry).....I will certainly stop contaminating additional bottles with oil...God knows I consume / discard alot of engine oils with 3 cars in the garage :)
The sultan of Brunei must have his own refinery to keep up with oil changes. It came out that supposedly he has 7,000 cars. Some look like they were driven once then put away.
 
Thanks and I was thinking along the same line as a friend who works in the hospitality industry talked about PET, PE, etc for recycling (especially for the hotel industry).....I will certainly stop contaminating additional bottles with oil...God knows I consume / discard alot of engine oils with 3 cars in the garage :)
Even if everyone stopped putting oil bottles in a lot of it will go to the landfill or burned if there is no market for the recyclables.
 
The sultan of Brunei must have his own refinery to keep up with oil changes. It came out that supposedly..
What a shame..I heard samsung s late chairman, who was an avid car collector and a driver, actually hired professional racing drivers to teach him and to run the cars time to time as he firmly believed these cars shouldn't be sitting around.
 
Most places dump their "recycled" plastic in the landfill like everything else. I would check your local jurisdiction before I put a bunch of energy into it. Fair warning - prepare to be disappointed.
This ^

If items are not suitable and perfectly clean then they’ll end up in the landfill. Dirty items can even contaminate other items in your bin, in the collection truck, and at the recycling center. For example, if a ketchup bottle or milk carton is left dirty and leaks, it can spoil other recyclables or seep onto paper, making them unrecyclable. I hate to say it but you may be causing more harm than good by doing this.
 
Thanks for your quick, great feedback. Our recycling center has various "sections": 1) used oil (in a large tank), 2) empty oil container, 3) old oil filters, and 4) batteries. Maybe I can dump a water bottle (with oil stain), if I use it again, with the empty oil containers?? I have no idea where all these go but at least they are trying to separate each.
Here's a thought, ask the folks at your recycling center.

Here, something like your oil-infused water bottle may be sent to hazardous waste disposal.
 
If your recycling literature tells you to put oil filters in the regular garbage, your homemade funnel is more than welcome there. (IMO)

Imagine how many beaters leak oil all over your town, you're doing better than all of them with this quandary over a teaspoon of the stuff.
 
If you are determined to return clean plastic for recycling then just wash it, be it dish soap or brake cleaner or whatnot.
I just rinse with water what goes into blue bin, but do a little more to clean what goes back for deposit refund.
 
Most places dump their "recycled" plastic in the landfill like everything else. I would check your local jurisdiction before I put a bunch of energy into it. Fair warning - prepare to be disappointed.
Agreed, the likelihood of plastic being recycled is small enough.

Add in something contaminated and that likelyhood drops to zero.

In my area any “oil container” cleaned or not is not allowed in recyclables, also all of the snap together plastic veggie/fruit containers regardless of the # on the pack is not allowed in our recyclables.

Basically milk jugs and pop bottles are it.
 
I would hazard a guess that not all that many plastic water bottles that do make their way to the recycling bin end up getting recycled.

My understanding is that in many municipalities the recycling bins with cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles are put on a long tread that heads to the landfill bin and that workers pull out stuff for recycling that is valuable enough to sell (like aluminum cans I would imagine). Perhaps there are a few posters on the front lines that could give us the real story of how this all goes.

I do have a friend who is an investor and advisor to a company that is trying to perfect a technology that could convert all types of plastic packaging into a chemical, or maybe a slurry of sorts that could then sold profitably to plastic manufacturers to recycle into new packaging. But as far as I know, they are still quite a ways away from that goal.
 
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