Land

Used oil recycling

The downstream petroleum industry promotes the collection, recycling and re-use of used oil filters and plastic oil containers.

Approximately one billion litres of motor and lubricating oils are sold every year in Canada. Of this total, about one half is consumed during use while the other half — about 523 million litres — is potentially recoverable.

Refiners and distributors of lubricants work with provincial government authorities to design environmentally friendly disposal solutions. For example, programs such as “return-to-retail” drop-offs or accessible public collection depots have been available to the public. These allow more used oil to be recycled or reused in an environmentally safe manner.

In 2003, 358 million litres of used oil was recovered and reused. Of this total, nearly a third was re-refined, producing high quality motor lubricants, hydraulic and gear oils and greases. The remainder was re-used for fuel in cement kilns, vehicle undercoating, roadway patching and asphalt sealer. For more information about used oil recycling programs, see www.usedoilrecycling.com

Re-refining makes environmental sense. Returned oil can be recycled many times which means less new materials are consumed. Also, it takes 50 per cent less energy to re-refine used oil than it takes to produce motor or lubricating oil from unrefined crude.