Motor Oil, Tires and Car Batteries
All three of these products are big environmental problems, but all three are easily recycled.
Used motor oil contains heavy metals and other toxic substances, and is considered hazardous waste. Each year do-it-yourself oil changers improperly dump more oil than the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound. One quart of oil can kill fish in thousands of gallons of water. Motor oil containers should mention the danger of used oil to humans and the environment.
Motor oil must never be dumped in storm drains; storm drains flow *untreated* into rivers, lakes or oceans. Your quart of oil *does* make a difference - don't dump it.
Recycling used motor oil is easy. Typically you used oil into a plastic milk jug and clearly mark it "used motor oil". The following should help you find a location to take the oil. Please drop off oil during regular business hours only:
- Call your local garbage, recycling or toxics agency for a referral.
- Many quick-lube shops take oil (the industry association encourages it):
- Jiffy Lube - (Contact any Jiffy Lube Station nationwide).
- Valvoline Instant Oil Change Centers - (Contact any Valvoline Station)(Valvoline's First Recovery Service, however, was sold to Safety Klean).
- Many auto stores take oil, including Grand Auto, R&S Strauss, Pep-Boys and Wal-Mart. Some states have laws requiring any business that sells oil to take used oil back from consumers.
Antifreeze contaminates motor oil - do not mix the two. If your car has blown a gasket and you are draining the oil, mark it clearly as potentially contaminated and treat it as non-recyclable household waste (see below). Never mix anything with used motor oil. Never place used oil in a container that has contained other chemicals.
You normally must pay a fee to dispose of a tire (usually $1-$5), but it is worth it. Improperly disposed tires tend to rise to the top of landfills, breed mosquitoes, transit disease when traded globally, and burn when stacked in large piles.
Your old car battery might be worth money. Even if not, any car parts shop will take it.