Anyone who changes the oil in their own car or other motorized vehicle on a regular basis is left with the yearly responsibility of disposing of a couple gallons of the smelliest, blackest petroleum goop you are likely to come across—unless, of course, you happen to live in Louisiana and have recently taken a stroll on the beach. As effective a lubricant as it is, this is some bad stuff; it is full of noxious fumes and carcinogens. You really don't want it on your skin. Though, if you are changing your own oil, you are likely a bit of a gearhead and would be able to share a thousand anecdotes about oil on your skin not hurting you a bit. The possibility also exists that you are just a frugal cheapskate, like me, who was raised by a gearhead, who is, without a doubt, the biggest, most frugal cheapskate of us all.
So, what do you do with all of that oil? Why, exactly, do you have 38 antifreeze containers full of used oil sitting in your garage anyway? Are you saving it for a special occasion? Are you considering the installation of James Bond-style oil slick dispensers on the back end of your Volvo? No, you are just lazy and apathetic—and that's okay. But there will come a time when you will no longer be around to stand guard over your horde. Someone will have to clean up this mess. Please, for the children, get rid of the oil! It's not that complicated. Really.
Getting rid of oil
Bring your used oil to official recycling centers. The locations and rules for disposing of oil will be different depending on where you live. Most counties or municipalities have some sort of process set up for dealing with hazardous wastes. Contact your local authorities for more information. For the most part, any place that sells motor oil will take your used oil for free. In all likelihood, they are able to collect large amounts of this oil and sell it for a bit of a profit, so don't feel like you are burdening them with your black gold. If you are concerned about where the oil is going, ask them. Personally, I would be more likely to donate to someone who is going to recycle it than to someone who is going to keep his shop warm with a dirty, inefficient fuel oil furnace.
Re-refining for use as motor oil. Through a distillation and filtration process very similar to the petroleum refining process that originated the virgin motor oil, used motor oil can be reborn as a useful lubricant. What is fantastic about this process is that it takes about a quarter of the energy required to pump up the raw oil and start from scratch. The resulting oil, though slightly more expensive, is just as good and can be used in any gasoline-burning engine—unless synthetic oil is required by the manufacturer of your vehicle. Another useful by-product of this process is lubricating grease. This stuff, if you haven't been introduced, is packed into most of the moving parts of your car. Guaranteed to silence any squeaky wheels.
Reusing motor oil as an industrial fuel. It is likely that the oil you bring to an oil recycler is going to be burned as an industrial fuel. Of the over one-billion gallons of used oil generated every year, it is estimated that about fifty-percent of recycled oil ends up generating power or heat for an industry somewhere. It is equal to virgin oil in its BTU potential and far cheaper. As long as the mechanics of burning this product are regulated and maintained at peak efficiency, there is little ecological effect. In fact, it is often argued that compared to the potential for damage caused by dumping the oil somewhere—where it does no good at all—any carbon created in the process is negligible at best. That's not to say that there isn't potential for damage in the industry: Careless transportation of the oil, poor maintenance of equipment, and faulty storage devices can wreak havoc on the water table of nearby communities. It can also be very dangerous for anyone who works in the area.
What not to do. It is estimated that around two-hundred million gallons of used oil are dumped illegally or improperly disposed of in landfills on a yearly basis. Though technically unverifiable, these estimates are based upon a gap in what is created and what is recovered. Even if it were a fraction of this amount, the fact that this continues is a travesty. Latest figures on the 2010 BP gulf-oil disaster—generally considered to be the greatest ecological disaster in American history—put the amount spilled at somewhere around two-hundred million gallons, as well. This is happening in your backyard every year and is seeping into your water table. One gallon of oil can contaminate one million gallons of ground water. It has to stop. Do not dump your oil in storm sewers, on fence posts, in the garbage can, down the toilet, or anywhere other than a recycling center.
Oil Consuming Bacteria?
I have heard the argument many times that petroleum is a natural product and, given enough time, it will clean itself up naturally. This argument, as ridiculous as it sounds, has a grain of truth to it. There are bacteria known as Pseudomonas, which, under the right conditions, can reduce aromatic hydrocarbons down to their base molecules. You will find this type of bacteria in most soil and water samples around the world, though the most highly petroleum-adapted varieties will obviously come from places that oil naturally occurs. The usefulness of these organisms has been known for many years, and bioremediation, as the process is called, is used to clean up oil spills or just about any contamination of which you can think, with the exception of heavy metals. Bioremediation also has some other limitations, which make total clean up of oil difficult. First off, these bacteria are aerobic—in other words they require air to live. Another issue to take into consideration is that Pseudomonas bacteria require a large amount of nitrates and warmer temperatures to metabolize the contaminants. On a large spill, it is necessary to introduce oxygen and nitrates to have any success—and if it's winter, you will probably have to wait until the warmer months.
Even with bacteria doing a good job of cleaning up the mess in the long term, there is still a problem with oil's short-term effect on the megaflora and fauna that encounter it. We've all seen the video of oil spill workers washing pathetic-looking, petroleum-covered pelicans; the greasy sheen interrupts the way animals naturally exist in their environment. Oil is poisonous to plants, fish, insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals—that includes us.
