To avoid environmental consequences, used oil needs to be handled and disposed of responsibly by a licensed waste management company. For a business, find a waste management company to help you properly dispose of all used oil. However, many homeowners forget to take the proper steps to dispose of used oil. We’ve got a few great tips for reusing and recycling used oil in your home.
Used oil in the home
We forget how much oil we use in our home. Your cars, bikes, lawnmowers all use oil and we need to take great care to dispose of used oil properly. Not only are used oils one of the biggest threats to our waters and our environment but the resources, particularly water, used to manufacture oil are huge. Recycling used oil from your home, including the oil filters, will save tons of water and protect the environment.
Reasons to recycle used oil
Saves water
If you are the type of household that loves to tinker with your cars at home in the garage, then you’re probably the type of household that does your own oil change. When you change your oil you need to be careful to collect all of the used oil into a leak-proof container. Not only will used soil stain and stick to just about anything, but it can severely contaminate fresh water sources if spilled or not properly disposed of. In fact, one oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water.
Besides being able to destroy our fresh water supply, used oil is highly toxic and filled with heavy metals, and it’s very slow to degrade.
Reasons to reuse oil
Although toxic to our waterways and environment, oil is incredibly resistant. Just because the oil may be too dirty for your car, doesn’t mean that it isn’t perfectly suited for other purposes. The used oil in your car can easily be used as a lubricant for other things, like bike chains, gears, squeaky doors, locks, etc. Reusing oil will save precious resources from manufacturing new oil.
Sunrise Sanitation is licensed in Maryland and West Virginia to collect and dispose of used waste oil. If you’re a business that needs to get rid of large amounts of used oil, you can trust us to handle it responsibly.
