How to Dispose of Motor Oil

One of the ways you can save a few dollars is by changing your own car oil. It takes a little elbow grease and know-how but without too much time or trouble. What can be harder is finding a way of disposing of that old black oil. You cannot put it in with your household trash (or the dumpster at work), so who accepts it and if they do, will they charge a fee? Don't even think of pouring it down the storm drain as you'd be polluting local streams. There is a hefty fee if the oil is disposed of improperly and the EPA catches you, so the oil tends to accumulate in people's garages.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. 

   Check out your local automotive center or quick lube center. Most of them actually sell their used oil and will gladly take yours. Pep Boys and Jiffy Lube are two well-known takers. Did you know used oil can be re-refined into lubricating oil? Refining the used automotive oil is actually easier than refining crude oil and saves energy.

2. 

   Check with your township for recycling days. Sometimes they will coordinate with the proper recycling centers to have it picked up curbside. If you find that your local authorities don't have anything organized for used oil, make a suggestion that one gets started. It will only help the environment if everyone works together to communicate proper recycling times and areas.

3. 

   See if your state parks have recycling bins. Some states have an actual container you can pour used auto oil in. In Delaware, state parks have a line of clean bins for alumimum, glass, oil, newspaper and cardboard easily accessible on clean parking lots.

4. 

   Some automotive repair centers may even use the old oil in their special designed burners for heat. Devises are being designed for small businesses to filter and clean dirty oil right on their premises to be used as heating fuel.

5. Do an online search for recycling centers. Earth 911 is a good site designed to be quite user-friendly. Just type in your zip code or town and state for local information.