[389]

I've been using old oil as weed killer for years. Its safe and natural...

People kill me spraying poison all over the lawns just so there grass will look a certain way.. That stuff should all be made illegal!! Its very bad for the water table..

[Stuart]

Dumping petroleum products on the ground isn't very good for the water table either.

[Greg Reid]

My local Auto Zone gives me no hassle at all about dumping oil. I just walk it back and pour it in the container.
Lately, I have a thing about cardboard. I hate the idea of cutting trees to make cardboard when we throw so much of it away. I used to burn big shipping boxes but my job has a dumpster that only has a slit in it for cardboard. I flatten all the boxes that shipped items arrive in and save them up until I have a load, then I take them to work with me.
As someone pointed out earlier, if they make it easy, I will do it.

[dataway]

Yep, for some reason I'm a cardboard fanatic too, that and plastic are pretty easy for me to recycle. I go down the mountain once a week for errands and the town recycling center is 2 minutes from my bank, so all my cardboard, plastic, tin cans and scrape metal from the shop are easy enough to get rid of .... course they won't take any plastic that had oil in it ...dohhh.

Unfortunately once every three months I have to go to the nearest commercial transfer station ... they take ANYTHING .. except large metal. They burn it all. So load up the truck as full as I can get it, spend $70 and they burn it. The whole place burned down two years ago ... took about 18 months before it was up and running again.

[64speed]

Originally Posted by The Champ

You do realize that you don't have to bring it to a recycling center, don't you?

Any repair shop (including new car dealers) that does oil changes has to accept your used oil.

We're laughing about how we USED to do it in the "old" days, but there is no excuse for disposing of waste oil in residential trash today when it is so easy to dispose of it responsibly.

FWIW - I've taken my drain oil to local recycling centers, local repair shops and new car dealers without having to deal with assholes.

In my county they are assholes about ALL trash. You can’t even throw kitty litter away technically because of what it will do to pregnant women. It is supposed to be put in a plastic container and put in a separate place at the dump! The 8.2 rear that came out of my Tempest, tried to sell it, took it to dump, they wouldn’t take it! Ended up going back at dusk to a rural “convenience center” and dumping it in the metal bin. Hell you can’t even throw cardboard away here with regular household trash! Don’t try to make me feel bad about mixing oil with kitty litter. I pay 28.00 a month for trash service! Other than maybe construction supplies they will take what I give them. Only reason we have all these regulations in the first place is because Santee Cooper power company was dumping Nuclear Waste in the Santee river.

[dataway]

A lot of local governments make rules without really thinking about the implications down the road when you mix in human nature.

Charge stupid money for disposing of tires ... the county will paying more per tire picking them up off the side of the road. Same goes for a lot of things.

If municipalities demand recycling then they HAVE to provide easy to use resources or people will just dump things.

Probably one of the few successes is the bottle/can deposit thing, was always a source of money for me as a kid 50 years ago ... need a buck ... ride around and pick up a few bottles.

Basically I see it this way ... anything that is legally required to be properly disposed of or recycled should be as easy, obvious and convenient as it is to buy said product. If you have a big aisle of oil products for sale ... you gotta put the same effort into making a big obvious easy to use point of return for the used product. If you have an entire section of soft drinks, beer etc. in deposit containers ... you should have an easy to use, no waiting place to cash in the empties.

Look at Tractor Supply ... I like their stores ... they have a couple of aisles stack to the rafters with oil of all descriptions .. grab it and walk out. But to return it ... gotta go in the back, wait around, sign papers ... make it as easy to return as it is to buy. The onus should be on the people profiting by the sale, not the person that has already paid for that profit when they bought the product. Incorporate into the cost of the product, make it happen. I'd pay a small premium for a product I know I could just drive up in my truck and dump it in a couple of minutes without have to "know" someone, or make friends, or even speak to anyone.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by 64speed

In my county they are assholes about ALL trash. You can’t even throw kitty litter away technically because of what it will do to pregnant women. It is supposed to be put in a plastic container and put in a separate place at the dump! The 8.2 rear that came out of my Tempest, tried to sell it, took it to dump, they wouldn’t take it! Ended up going back at dusk to a rural “convenience center” and dumping it in the metal bin. Hell you can’t even throw cardboard away here with regular household trash! Don’t try to make me feel bad about mixing oil with kitty litter. I pay 28.00 a month for trash service! Other than maybe construction supplies they will take what I give them. Only reason we have all these regulations in the first place is because Santee Cooper power company was dumping Nuclear Waste in the Santee river.

You just refuse to accept responsibility for your own actions.

You do know that your local NAPA store will take your drain oil, don't you?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/knowho...oil%20disposal.

I pay for trash service as well - as do most members of the board. That doesn't make it "right" for me (or YOU) to deposit hazardous waste in residential trash.

As far as that rear end - you should have been able to get paid by a scrap dealer for it. They do recycle junk cars and car parts in SC, don't they?

I've made a number of runs to one of several scrap metal dealers in my area to get rid of various steel, aluminum, copper and batteries. They pay by the pound. I don't get rich, but it more than covers the cost of the trip and the metals are recycled.

[64speed]

My local Napa is not a chain store and does not take oil. I do not live in the city limits so I have to pay over and above county taxes for trash service. None of my convenience centers are convenient to me and the main dump picks and chooses what they want to take depending on who is at the window when you pull up! Like I said technically you can’t throw away cat litter. What are you supposed to do? Save sealed containers to put it in?

[The Champ]

.....

Speed

You do realize that city residents pay taxes for their trash service - it's not free to them either. I live in the country too and pay for my refuse to be hauled away.

Your local NAPA won't take your oil (you say). That contradicts NAPA's website: "Bring your used oil to a recycling center or a NAPA AUTO PARTS store to recycle it for you."

Print that out and bring it to your NAPA store. If they won't accept it, call NAPA and let them know.

You have tons of options to deal with your oil properly. Any place that does oil changes in your surrounding area has to accept drain oil.

[Stuart]

I'll note this thread started out with a picture that was posted for humor....

There's no need to get into a big argument. No matter where you live, there is probably some option for recycling oil. Check your city or county website, they usually have information.

Here is a link to the recycling brochure for Oconee County, SC: https://oconeesc.com/documents/solid...g-brochure.pdf

[Half-Inch Stud]

Didnt read any of this Thread. Got 3 jugs of used oil from oil changes. What do i do with it, other than give to Advanced auto Zone?

Porbably NOT compost fluid huh.

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Got 3 jugs of used oil from oil changes. What do i do with it, other than give to Advanced auto Zone?

I used to filter it and dump it in my old mechanically injected diesel truck. Free fuel!

[72projectbird]

I've put brake rotors and drums in the recycling bin before. We have those big recycling trucks that pick the bin up with an arm, and flip it into the back.

You should've heard them fall in. Hahah

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Didnt read any of this Thread. Got 3 jugs of used oil from oil changes. What do i do with it, other than give to Advanced auto Zone?

Hazardous waste program for your county: https://www.montcopa.org/706/Househo...Collection-Pro

[dataway]

Metal is wonderful .... the recycling rate for most metals is in the high 90's percent range. Either steel or aluminum is the most recycled material on earth ... and strangely enough they are both one of the most common elements on the planet.

I change oil so often you could probably pour my used oil right into another engine and it would be cleaner than the typical crankcase full of oil

[Longs]

Way back in the day I remember used oil going into gravel lots, down storm sewers, and other places. At least that's what I've been told. I just pour it back into the original 5 quart containers that I buy and recycle it at whatever auto store I happen to find convenient. I have heard of people who have run into limits where the places wouldn't take as many containers as they had, so those people would just drop it off outside the door of the place at night... I've heard about that happening but I can't verify it, just a rumor.

One use I haven't seen brought up here is that places would save it and oil soak the underside of cars before every winter to try to prevent rust, shoot used oil up into frame, any cracks and crevices they could reach with a spray gun or other tool using compressed air. It would be nice to find a place doing that now, when you look at the relatively newer cars in my area of the rust belt, the body panels usually hold up pretty well but a lot of the undercarriage gets real rusty - rocker panels rust out, brake and fuel lines rust, cars rot where you can't see the rot.

[Sirrotica]

When used oil gets into above ground water it will be digested by microbes and bacteria that convert any petroleum product into H2O and CO2. The huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Deepwater Horizon) was largely cleaned up by these microbes and bacteria to the point that there is little evidence 10 years later that it ever happened.

Hard to believe that tiny microorganisms could convert that volume of oil (4.9 million barrels spilled) into harmless by products. I realize some of the oil was rounded up by man made attempts, but a huge amount was just left in the ocean to let nature deal with.

I'm uncertain if these same organisms can do the same thing underground when land is contaminated, but it is possible that nature has some way to deal with contaminated land areas too.

[455Grandville]

I take used motor oil and mix it with 50 % diesel fuel to protect untreated lumber.
Once you put several coats on and let the sun hit it, it makes a nice stain color and keeps wood from rotting.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Longs

One use I haven't seen brought up here is that places would save it and oil soak the underside of cars before every winter to try to prevent rust, shoot used oil up into frame, any cracks and crevices they could reach with a spray gun or other tool using compressed air. It would be nice to find a place doing that now, when you look at the relatively newer cars in my area of the rust belt, the body panels usually hold up pretty well but a lot of the undercarriage gets real rusty - rocker panels rust out, brake and fuel lines rust, cars rot where you can't see the rot.

People do that here. Works pretty well.

[tooski]

Originally Posted by dataway

Probably one of the few successes is the bottle/can deposit thing, was always a source of money for me as a kid 50 years ago ... need a buck ... ride around and pick up a few bottles.

Here in Ontario (not sure about other provinces), we have always had deposit/return on beer bottles and cans. It has been expanded to also include liquor and wine bottles.
When I was young and living in an apartment I took up golfing to occupy my spare time. Once, I went golfing with my landlord's grandson. Course very quiet. We probably spent more time picking up empty beer bottles in the bushes. We collected enough for the return on deposit to buy us a case of 24. Spent the rest of the afternoon drinking it.