Waste Oil

[TomG]

Just a note. Today, we get 500 gallons of waste oil removed from our other place. The oil was an accumulation from a previous owner. The oil is in a well-rusted furnace oil tank and 55 gallon drums. They've been there since the days of leaded gas, and are just waiting to rust through or tip over. It would be an ungodly and an expensive mess.

I was talking to my insurance broker about another matter and incidentally mentioned the oil. She said: 'You know that if you've got that sort of thing on your property, there's no insurance coverage if something goes wrong.' I thought that's a real good thing to know and is strong encouragement for anybody with a waste oil accumulation to do something about it.

Getting rid of it is something of an ordeal. Here, there are testing and permits required, and the waste oil companies usually don't do residential work. Maybe I was lucky that a company decided to take it.

 

[Roy]

My guess is that the insurance companies would not see such a claim as meeting the 'sudden and unexpected' condition for losses. That is, if you have a rusted steel tank, filled with oil, how could you not foresee eventual deterioration and/or risk of spillage.

 

[TomG]

Yes, in this case I agree with the insurance company. To leave something like that around is irresponsible, and I wouldn't want to pay the insurance rates that it would take to underwrite that level of irresponsibility. Anyway, the oil is gone at a cost of $550Can for the testing and removal. I think it was worth it.

 

[Roy]

I agree, it was worth it. No question that you did the correct thing. I have heard stories about people finding old underground tanks on their property, and the cleanup and removal cost is very high! And of course, these things spend years in court (property owner vs. insurance company vs. previous property owner)! Thanks for brining it to people's attention. Not only should we attack the problems before they become nightmares, we should also be prudent when purchasing older property to see if there are signs of unwanted hazards.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

>>and the cleanup and removal cost is very high...

I agree, but you want to hear something ridiculous...we all know how hard it is to get rid of waste oil, how it is a hazordous waste etc etc, I had a few gallons of used oil I brought to our dump this morning to get rid of (they sometimes have a big tank to they collect it in), so I asked the attendant where I should put these 2 gallons of waste oil, you know what he says? "just throw them in the back of the dumptruck, its all going to the landfill anyway"...rake the average joe across the coals when something gets spilled on his property and then just dump hundreds (thousands? millions?) of gallons in the landfills across the country....I know this is not necessarily what happens at all landfills, but I am sure it is not just mine.

 

[Richardb]

Thanks for pointing this out to us. We has the same ordeal for a 55 drum of waste hydraulic fluid, it took quite a while to sort that one out. In our area the local automotive repair shops have waste-oil burning heaters and really appreciate donations in the winter. That's what I do with mine, and I then have the peace of mind knowing it dosen't somehow get spilled or sent to the dump. Don't know if old oil would burn well, but I expect it should, I've seen some pretty filthy oil in the drum when I make my donations...

 

[W5FL]

That isn't my idea of recycling, but I guess if it prevents buying new fuel for the heater it serves the same purpose.

I used to know a guy who poured all his waste oil on his driveway. Wonder how he every managed to clean up that mess?

 

[TomG]

I used to drive on section roads that were oiled, probably old transformer oil with PVC's. They actually were good roads compared to the typical gravel ones. The oil seemed to soak into the dirt fast and pack into a fairly hard surface. I wonder if the areas are still contaminated. I hate to think about it.

Wish I knew somebody with a waste oil furnace. I agree that it's not re-cycling, but at least it's fairly safe disposal.

 

[Richardb]

I agree that it is not recycling, but it is my (limited) understanding that this is what eventually happens to all waste oil. Ususally it go to a 'recycling' company who filters it and mix in kero to get proper viscosity for industrial waste oil burners to provide heat. I'm sure it burns cleaner after processing though. I was told this by a guy on our county's solid waste board. What other uses for waste oil might there be?

The same fellow told me what happens to our 'recycled' mixed paper. It gets shredded and used as animal bedding for local dairy farms, then composts with the manure and eventially is spread on the corn fields. I wonder about the toxic inks in the glossy paper, though I've read that nontoxic inks are being used more, especially for newsprint. Of course they also fertilize fields here with liquid waste from municipal sewage treatment plants, so the boneheads that pour oil down the drain (illegal) or glycol (legal!), get to drink their oil and glycol in next seasons milk! Some recycling!

 

[Alan W.]

I take my used oil to Auto Zone, they have a tank to put it in that the recyclers pick up. Don't know what happens to it afterwards. Most inks that are used today are non toxic, except for the gold and silver metallic ones. We had to keep any print with these seperated from the others when it was baled for resale. I worked 13 years for a magazine printer. Some of the magazine covers that appear to have clear coat applied to them is also toxic, this is an ultrviolet light cured coating that is applied as the paper exits the press.