How to Recycle Your Used Engine Oil
If you own a vehicle, either as an individual or a business, changing its oil regularly is an essential part of routine maintenance. As oil flows through an engine, it accumulates various contaminants that render it less effective, which is why it needs to be changed regularly.
However, for this very reason, it is equally vital to make sure that your old engine oil is disposed of responsibly. Evidence shows that improperly discarded waste oil can have a negative impact on the environment, and represents a damaging form of hazardous waste.
By recycling these waste lubricants, we can help to conserve resources, reduce pollution and create new products.
In this blog post, the experts at Broughton Lubricants will explain the importance of proper engine oil disposal and offer advice on how to recycle used oil safely.
Why is recycling engine oil important?
Engine oil plays a crucial role in lubricating and cooling vehicle engines, but over time, it becomes contaminated with dirt, metal particles and other impurities. As such, it transforms into a hazardous waste product that is insoluble and slow to degrade, meaning it will linger in the environment for a long time.
This is why it is illegal to dispose of waste engine oil down the drains or into the ground, as this can have a number of harmful consequences for the environment, including:
- Causing pollution in waterways, leaching toxic chemicals and heavy metals into drinking water sources for humans and animals
- Releasing toxic chemicals, such as benzene, lead, chromium, arsenic and dioxins, into the environment
- Harming animals that come into contact with it, including causing bird feathers to stick together
As such, improper engine oil disposal represents a serious threat to our essential ecosystems. By recycling our used oil properly, we can prevent this damage, while also reducing the demand for new oil and providing raw materials to create valuable new products from these recycled materials.
How to remove and store used engine oil
If you are planning to remove the old oil from your vehicle manually, it is important to have the right tools and equipment at the ready. These include a drain pan or drip tray, gloves, and an appropriate container for storing the used oil - for example, you might keep hold of the original bottle that you purchased the motor oil in, or repurpose the container for the new oil you will be replacing it with.
Follow these steps to safely remove and store used oil:
- Warm up the engine for a few minutes to make the oil flow more easily
- Turn off the engine and allow it to cool until it is safe to touch
- Place the drip tray beneath the oil drain plug and remove the plug
- Allow the used oil to drain completely into the pan
- Replace the plug and fill the engine with fresh oil
- Pour the used oil from the drain pan into a suitable oil storage container that can be sealed
- Fasten the container tightly to prevent leaks and store it in a cool, dry place until you are ready to recycle it
For businesses that utilise a large amount of vehicles and machinery - such as garages, farms and factories - it may be the case that you have an expert on staff to handle this responsibility on a regular basis. Individuals may choose to take their car to a garage to have the oil change done by a specialist, rather than handling it themselves.
Where can I recycle my old engine oil?
After oils have been drained, they need to be delivered to a licensed waste carrier that is able to process and recycle the waste oil. There are a number of potential options for this:
- Your nearest local council recycling centre
- A local oil bank
- A garage or service station that offers oil recycling facilities
- Local authority curbside collections, in some areas
You will need to make enquiries to find your nearest facility or service that is able to take your used oil off your hands for recycling. To find a recycling facility near you, take a look at the Recycling Locator for engine oil disposal on the Recycle Now website, or visit the Oil Care Campaign site to find your nearest UK oil bank. Many of these facilities are also able to accept your used oil filters for recycling.
How is used oil recycled, and what is it used for?
Once used oil has been safely transported to a specialist licensed facility, it can be recycled to create re-refined base oil that can be used to create useful new products. The recycling process for engine oil involves several steps:
- Pre-treatment - the used oil is screened to remove large contaminants, such as dirt and debris
- Dehydration - water is separated from the oil using heat or centrifugal force
- Vacuum distillation - the oil is heated in a vacuum to remove lighter impurities, such as fuel and solvents
- Hydro-treating - the oil is treated with hydrogen to remove contaminants like sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen, creating a cleaner and more stable base oil
Once this process is complete, the re-refined oil can be used to produce new lubricant, transformer or hydraulic oils, as well as industrial burner oils and bitumen-based products. Re-refined oil also serves as a mould oil to help release products from their moulds, and as an additive for certain manufacturing processes.
Additionally, the recycling process itself can generate other useful materials, such as asphalt extenders for road construction and fuel for industrial furnaces. In this way, recycling old oil helps the petroleum industry to minimise its environmental impact, because using recycled base oils reduces the industry’s dependence on new crude oil.
It is clear that recycling your old motor oil is an environmentally friendly and responsible practice that everyone in the UK should adopt. Instead of becoming a damaging pollutant that can harm human health and pollute waterways, engine oil is transformed into a valuable resource.
By properly removing, storing and recycling your used engine oil - as well as your used oil filters and other automotive fluids - you can help to conserve resources, protect the environment, and support the creation of new products from recycled materials. So, the next time you change your motor oil, make sure you dispose of it correctly.
To find out more about the products you will need to look after your vehicle, browse our product range at Broughton Lubricants.
Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help by calling us on 03300 555 655 or using our online enquiry form.
