Why don’t people recycle their old oil?

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Totally unworkable. HUGE burden on the seller. NO!

Let's face it - how much oil is the DIY'er?

Shops of all varieties from HonkeyMonkey to Pro Huge Diesel to Acura/BMW/SAAB dealer go through a LOT more oil and may even spill more oil than joe DIY dumps along the fence line.....

Barking up the wrong tree.
 
I'm surprised there's not more signage at auto parts stores or Wal-Mart that encourage oil recycling. The behavior of dumping motor in the back yard should be discouraged. Everyone knows it's just plain wrong. I don't care what % of oil the average joe DIY'er accumulates, any amount recycled is good for all of us. The more we (DIY'ers) are made aware of the potential harm of dumping oil and the ease of recycling, more will trend to doing it. The attitude or habit has to start somewhere. Discarding the idea solves nothing.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Totally unworkable. HUGE burden on the seller. NO!

Let's face it - how much oil is the DIY'er?

Shops of all varieties from HonkeyMonkey to Pro Huge Diesel to Acura/BMW/SAAB dealer go through a LOT more oil and may even spill more oil than joe DIY dumps along the fence line.....

Barking up the wrong tree.


If the burden is too big for you Pablo, then you should not be in business, this is no different than collecting any other state level tax.

Your dealer/jiffy lube would have to do very little extra wrt to a deposit. When I come in for an oil change I leave 5Qt of oil and I take 5 Qt of oil assuming my car uses none between changes. The small amount that all cars use could easily be ignored by the shops and passed onto the consumer in the price (we are talking less than $1 here). These shops already deal with large quanities of oil for disposal, nothing new here, now it is just measured when it is returned. The administrative costs of recycling can be taken out of the difference between the oil sold and the oil returned.

I hear the same argument from business all the time when a new way of doing things comes along: It wont work, we will go out of business, ... but everytime everything works out in the end, it always does it always will.
 
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Originally Posted By: Duffman77


If the burden is too big for you Pablo, then you should not be in business, this is no different than collecting any other state level tax.


Easy for you to write. You really don't know what you are talking about. No different than sales tax? OK how will I collect the used oil?
 
You tell me but I thought you were in the selling not collection business.

Collection would be done at a recycling center or somewhere else willing to take it.

Edit2: I dont take my used cans back to wallmart where I bought them, they go to a recycling center which counts them and pays me despite me having bought them elsewhere. Any place that currently sells oil and takes used back as a service for their customers should not have a problem with this.
 
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Originally Posted By: drivewaytech
I'm surprised there's not more signage at auto parts stores or Wal-Mart that encourage oil recycling. The behavior of dumping motor in the back yard should be discouraged. Everyone knows it's just plain wrong. I don't care what % of oil the average joe DIY'er accumulates, any amount recycled is good for all of us. The more we (DIY'ers) are made aware of the potential harm of dumping oil and the ease of recycling, more will trend to doing it. The attitude or habit has to start somewhere. Discarding the idea solves nothing.


I have no problem telling the world that oil should be recycled. The attitude should be ingrained. I'm only against the silly idea of collecting a deposit on new oil and returning a deposit with used oil.
 
I'm not to hip on the idea of deposits or more regulation either; but peer pressure, education or simply coupons would go a long way. BITOG'ers salivate over saving any kind of money on their favorite brand. Let the market place step in and help move this along. When the next price increase comes along (almost monthly now), jack it up an extra 5 cents a bottle and then offer 50 cent off coupons for every 5 quarts returned towards the next purchase. Not everybody will take advantage but more people will be encouraged to recycle. The money made on the extra 5 cents will cover the coupon and the signage and recycling campaign targeted to the DIY'er. There is a solution that can be levied.
 
I collect my oil in a 5 gallon container in the garage with a funnel for filter drains. When I get enough oil I take it to the local garage that burns it for heat. That's much more environmentally conscious than turning the oil in for recycling and having the garage burn virgin oil.

When I get enough filters I take them to an airplane shop, cut them apart, oogle over all that filter goodness, then bring the filters home to the burning pile.

The primary goal is to prevent liquid oil from going into the ground.
 
I do the same with my extended fleet's waste oil. I've got two 5 gallon rectangular jugs and a couple of 5gallon pails. Right off to my buddy's garage. I even got him a pair of 30gallon plastic drums when my plant closed down to use when his primary tank gets full (easier handling).
 
I have always recycled my used oil. It is a subject that I am really not concerned about .I have not seen puddles of oil anywhere I have been ,I am sure that there are pigs around.
 
I have a mobile oil change business and I get paid $.80 for used oil... SO I tell people that I will pick up their used oil from tractors and mowers or whatever for no charge >> I usually end up servicing other vehicles or equipment when I get there but it is profitable for me to take their used stuff >> I usually end up with about 500-600 gallons every 2 weeks which ends up being $800-900 a month in play money for me! >>> Or a fuel subsidy. hahaha
 
Originally Posted By: Mobile_Oilguy
I have a mobile oil change business and I get paid $.80 for used oil... SO I tell people that I will pick up their used oil from tractors and mowers or whatever for no charge >> I usually end up servicing other vehicles or equipment when I get there but it is profitable for me to take their used stuff >> I usually end up with about 500-600 gallons every 2 weeks which ends up being $800-900 a month in play money for me! >>> Or a fuel subsidy. hahaha



Does that even cover half the fuel subsidy?
 
A deposit is not the right answer...what about vehicles that consume oil?? Pablo is correct about the insane amount of burden that would be added to the system...it would not be incentive enough to convince the few idiots, that dump their stuff on the ground, to stop. I mean come on it's not like used oil is a pop-can that someone looking for a few bucks can pick out of a ditch and cash in! Used oil already is a commodity that is worth money. If there was more awareness generated about where to recycle the oil at the point of purchase, vs. just pumping out coupons and sales, that would help some of the people who want to do the right thing. The other A-holes that pollute the world by being irresponsible should be publicly flogged...fined and made to wash ducks and penguins on the shore with dawn soap.
 
I had to come back to this post ,what gives you an idea there is a problem with wast oil being not recycled in the first place.
 
Originally Posted By: Steve S
I had to come back to this post ,what gives you an idea there is a problem with wast oil being not recycled in the first place.


Probably stats like these:

1 in 4 households have a do-it-yourself (DIY) oil changer.
Each year about 40 million gallons of automotive oil is sold to the public.
About 82 million gallons of used oils were recycled in 1998.
Over 20 million gallons of used motor oil is disposed each year in an unknown manner in California by do-it-yourself oil changers. This equates to nearly 1 gallon of DIY used oil improperly disposed of for every adult.

My Dad poured his in his back yard as a kid (1970s). It made me sick then, I can't imagine doing it now.

John
 
The only thing I get from your numbers is that more than half of all automotive oil consumed is stolen. All of mine is paid for. I better report the neighbors.

Perhaps your dad knew about using oil as dust suppressant. I've also had to tell people not to pour used motor oil on the ground no matter how easy it seems.
 
Yeah... I spend about $1000-1100 a month on fuel >> so it is definitely worth it for me and I have my rig set up to do take it... I have rules about it though >> It has to be a container that is closed and not just an open 5 gallon bucket that has been sitting outside half full of water and grasshoppers...
I have had people call me wanting to get 55 gallon barrels of waste oil picked up which means I go out and suck out the barrels at no charge and get about $45 for 20 minutes worth of time... That is pretty good when it didn't cost me anything! I usually end up servicing something else while I am there so I end up making much more than $45!

OG
 
Originally Posted By: John_K

Probably stats like these:

1 in 4 households have a do-it-yourself (DIY) oil changer.
Each year about 40 million gallons of automotive oil is sold to the public.
About 82 million gallons of used oils were recycled in 1998.
Over 20 million gallons of used motor oil is disposed each year in an unknown manner in California by do-it-yourself oil changers. This equates to nearly 1 gallon of DIY used oil improperly disposed of for every adult.

My Dad poured his in his back yard as a kid (1970s). It made me sick then, I can't imagine doing it now.

John


How can you have more oil recycled than sold? By twice as much? ....

All jokes aside, a typical car burn 1/2 to 1 quart of oil between OCI and if you also look at how many people burn used oil as fuel (blend in diesel), leaked out of the gasket, sold to factory as feedstock, missing accounting, etc, the number is not that bad.

Most people don't dump oil intentionally, it is so messy to deal with and if you are changing oil, you usually care about it enough that you do something with it.
 
Quote:
How can you have more oil recycled than sold? By twice as much? ....


Quote:
Each year about 40 million gallons of automotive oil is sold to the public. .... About 82 million gallons of used oils were recycled in 1998.


I don't see "by the public" in the 82 million gallon part.
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