Why arent we recycling/re refining more oil?

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I was wondering why the U.S.A/CANADA and world isnt re refining more old motor oil, greases, cooking oil, etc into usable products, like motor oil, other stuff. My work uses the SAFETY KLEEN motor oils and coolants. The guy told me that the re refining/recycling oils etc is gaining on people, but mainly the younger generation. I would think most old oil, greases and such could and should be re-usable or recyclable.

any advice and info is appreciated,

adam
 
It's probably the stigma of putting "used" oil in a car. Yes, it is re-refined and just as good as virgin stock, but there is still a stigma. I use re-refined oil (see sig), despite it normally costing the same as virgin (in my case it was FAR). Heck, I would use 100% recycled oil if it was priced competitively. The environmental/resource conserving nature of it does melt my icey conservative heart a bit, but I can freeze those outer layers a bit by kicking a tree or something.
 
i would say that there's a renewed interest in being green and recycling nowadays. i would imagine that more recycled oils will be coming out for sale in the near future. valvoline already introduced a synthetic nextgen if i'm not mistaken.
 
Originally Posted By: shell_user
I was wondering why the U.S.A/CANADA and world isnt re refining more old motor oil, greases, cooking oil, etc into usable products, like motor oil, other stuff. My work uses the SAFETY KLEEN motor oils and coolants. The guy told me that the re refining/recycling oils etc is gaining on people, but mainly the younger generation. I would think most old oil, greases and such could and should be re-usable or recyclable.
any advice and info is appreciated,
adam

First congratulations: your post #just reached 666 .
second, recycling things (oily stuff included)is older then me and you both.
if you search a bit, you will find the germans had a car during the war that could use both gasoline and diesel of the day with just the change of one single valve.
in terms of knowledge im' just reproducing what other said, but in the diesel forum you're going to find beside the oil burning heaters in a lot of shops, some folks that converted cooking oil or used oil into some kind of diesel.
also almost any bigger township has a place to drop your used oil, beside the regular autozone, advanced or o'reily or other chain.
also some folks in distress will become quite creative. I still remember some guys from the 80's running their cars on 70 gasoline with some strange concoction which included toluene because the regular was hard to find or too expensive for them.
others more technical in the matter will chime in.
P.S. I don't know what drives your boat , but you always end up with pretty interesting threads. thanks for being an inquisitive folk.
 
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I'd place the argument behind established supply lines.

It's difficult to figure out the logistics behind re-refining used motor oil.
Valvoline has figured it out, but only on a limited basis, and their product is selling in some markets and not others.

There is a lot of potential. However, the devil is in the details, and large ideas are implemented one tiny step at a time.

It would be awesome if Valvoline's NexGen became the next Maxlife. I remember when Valvoline came out with Maxlife and it was a niche market that no other oil maker went after. Until Maxlife started selling off the shelves. Then other manufacturers started paying attention to that niche.

I can see NexGen doing the same thing. Valvoline can invent another niche and start another trend.

It would be cool to see more re-refined blends from other makers.
 
alot of oil is burnt as free heating with waste oil heaters

I would have to drive 60miles to goto the place that takes coolant (thats open 4 hours 1 day a week)

So it goes down the drain..(what the city told me to do)
 
The cost of acquisition of used oil and the logistics prevent large scale recycling. Valvoline is vertically integrated with their oil change centers but the gross used oil stock goes in many directions.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand

I would have to drive 60miles to goto the place that takes coolant (thats open 4 hours 1 day a week)

So it goes down the drain..(what the city told me to do)



Every quart of coolant you dump down a drain will pollute 500,000 gallons of water in Lake Erie. Is this a storm sewer or sanitary sewer?
 
Coolant in the sanitary sewer is chewed up by bacteria LONG before it even gets to the sewage plant. That is not an unreasonable thing to do. Many municipalities teel customers to do this. But put it in a storm sewer and it will go right into the environment.

Why not just take the collected goodies and turn it into a home heating oil? Basically, a simple distillation to get out the metals, etc, would probably suffice. Yoeld would probably be a bit higher as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: Rand

I would have to drive 60miles to goto the place that takes coolant (thats open 4 hours 1 day a week)

So it goes down the drain..(what the city told me to do)



Every quart of coolant you dump down a drain will pollute 500,000 gallons of water in Lake Erie. Is this a storm sewer or sanitary sewer?


Is that what happened to Lake Erie ? I will take the chance you over typed your fiqure by 499,005 if even that ,,
 
I'm with the OP on this one. I'm surprised that I'm the day and age we live in, with the cost of oil, that it isn't regulated and controlled more. There are a bazillion gallons of used oil being dumped... Something. Are we making good use of that used oil?

I have no doubt in my mind that more oil companies will start producing recycled oil soon. It just makes sense to use that quart of oil over and over and over again. The oil is still perfectly good after it has been refined again.
 
Simply because like everything else, its cheaper to make new oil than clean and recycle the used oil. Its all about money and profit. Everything is disposable. But really, we dont import anything into this planet, so in the grand scheme of things, everything that goes into the land fill, it actually came from the ground too at one point. Its just going back. Think about it.
 
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I dont know about the whole "its cheaper to make new oil from crude" stories. My father has shown me some crude oil; pretty darn nasty looking stuff, probably worse than used oil with all the other stuff that HAS to be taken out. Used motor oil has already been filtered, or I would think be a little cleaner, wouldnt you think. I was told also by SAFETY KLEEN it takes less water and other stuff to re-refine a barrel of used oil also.
 
Like other above me have said, it's the stigma. Also, people aren't as educated as well as you and I, and everyone else here. C'mon, we're communicating via an oil enthusiast site.

I feel that the younger generation and those who are educated on oil and engines don't have a problem using it.

I could picture a tree hugger using it as well. I mean that in a good way.
 
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I was wondering why the U.S.A/CANADA and world isnt re refining more old motor oil, greases, cooking oil, etc into usable products, like motor oil, other stuff.


Do you have any idea of how much of this stuff we actually recycle? I don't.

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I'd place the argument behind established supply lines.

It's difficult to figure out the logistics behind re-refining used motor oil.
Valvoline has figured it out, but only on a limited basis, and their product is selling in some markets and not others.


See note below, about Asbury Environmental Services.

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I'm with the OP on this one. I'm surprised that I'm the day and age we live in, with the cost of oil, that it isn't regulated and controlled more. There are a bazillion gallons of used oil being dumped... Something. Are we making good use of that used oil?


Unless you have evidence of gross misuse of used oil, etc., I'm not sure I'd ask big government to come in and start throwing regulations around. Let's first determine if there's a problem, and whether it's already being dealt with.

I have seen Asbury Environmental Services trucks driving around pretty commonly. AES is a California company that picks up used oil and antifreeze, as well as providing transportation services.

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With over 60 waste oil trucks servicing California, AES has established itself as the largest waste oil and antifreeze hauler in California. Waste oil and antifreeze can be picked up in either drums or bulk in any quantity to be recycled at the DeMenno/Kerdoon (DK) facility in Compton, California. Antifreeze is recycled in to a new product and is for sale under the name of Trinity antifreeze.

Drained, used oil filters are picked up in drums and replacement drums are available at no additional charge. Valvoline has chosen both AES and DK as exclusive licensees for Valvoline in California. This partnership alone brings and additional 3 million gallons of waste oil into DK annually.


This is just one company, and not a huge one by any means. I picked them because I see their trucks driving around.

In the late seventies, I worked at a Burger Chef (anyone remember them?). For a while, my job was maintaining the fryers. I would filter the hot oil, and change it if necessary. The waste fry oil went into a barrel out back that was picked up by some sort of recycling outfit. Remember, this was back in the seventies. Nowadays, there are companies like Darling International, a huge rendering company. They not only buy waste food-service oils, they provide entire systems to companies that produce waste oils to make recycling easier.

My point here is that a lot is being done. Should more be done? I don't know, because I don't know if there's a problem here that isn't being solved.
 
I am gonna side with ARTEM because he knows what he is talking about. I did have a packet of info Safety Kleen gave my boss and all of us mechanics that said like 30% I believe was dumped improperly and illegally. Its probably more nowadays. I take the friends, family's oil and filters to my work where it is recycled as OFR(Oil filter recyclers out of Illinois recycle the oil filters or melt them down for steel ). So YEAH, I do have a darn good idea of how stupid people are and do dumb things like pollute waterways and areas. Some idiots around here still dump their oils, coolant in their driveways also. And if you stop and think; no we are not making good use with those old motor oils, etc as we burn so much of it in waste oil heaters or turn it into heating oil and who knows where the rest goes; probably to third world countries where god knows what they will and do with it.

just my thoughts
 
I just really wonder what AES and DK services do with the oil and coolant since they are "haulers". We have those people around here and they take it to coal fired power plants and use it there as "on site fuel" and at some waste fired plants near where my g.f. lives. I hope Safety Kleen gets bigger and pushes for more re-refined/recycled motor oils. Thanks for that info molakule also, very helpful and interesting reading. THANKS!
 
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I just really wonder what AES and DK services do with the oil and coolant since they are "haulers".


If you really wonder, you should check out the DeMenno/Kerdoon website. Very informative. DK is not the hauler, they're the processor. In fact, if you like recycled or re-refined products, I think they're a company you might approve of.

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I hope Safety Kleen gets bigger and pushes for more re-refined/recycled motor oils.


Well, Safety-Kleen is already pretty big, but I think I agree with your sentiment that more re-refined oils would be a good thing. If the figure of 30% of waste oil being dumped incorrectly is right, that would indicate that 70% is being disposed of correctly, which is a pretty good start. There are awareness programs going on right now that I hope will increase that percentage. Many cities have programs to get people to dispose of hazardous waste responsibly, and I think it's having an impact.

I used to buy 76 Firebird LD oil from Kragen. That was probably 20 years ago, and it was the only re-refined oil I knew of at the time. Now it falls under the Conoco-Phillips umbrella and is listed as a part-synthetic, part-re-refined oil. I think it's mostly sold to municipalities that often have regulations requiring them to use re-refined oils in their fleets. I haven't seen it on a shelf in a long time.
 
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