It’s now even easier to recycle your oil and antifreeze.
This, after North Island Lube at 975 Ironwood Street upgraded its used oil recycling facility.
The BC Used Oil Management Association said the new infrastructure allows an “easy, free, and eco-friendly way” to recycle used oil and antifreeze materials.
The association is a not-for-profit group dedicated to the collection and recycling of lubricating oil, oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze and antifreeze containers in B.C.
The upgrade was made possible by a Return Collection Facility (RCF) infrastructure grant that North Island Lube received from the association.
The grant provided the company with a modified sea container to facilitate the responsible collection and management of used oil, antifreeze, filters and containers.
Association executive director David Lawes said North Island Lube made it a priority to provide their clients with an easy and free facility to recycle their used oil and antifreeze materials.
“The infrastructure that we installed for them is in a convenient location on their property, and there is ample signage that explains how to properly recycle used oil products,” Lawes said.
“It is a quick and simple process that customers will greatly appreciate.”
The purpose of the infrastructure grant program is to ensure that there are enough RCFs across the province for people to return their used oil and antifreeze materials for free.
Lawes said this new addition makes making the service even more accessible.
“The facility we provided the infrastructure to, they can now take back more volume from the public for used oil and antifreeze. It’s really exciting for us to get facilities like this on the island and in places like Campbell River to provide this service to residents.”
The program also requires responsible environmental handling, collection, transportation, storage, processing and recycling of used oil and antifreeze material using economic, efficient and environmentally acceptable options.
The association says that it continues to look for opportunities to upgrade and improve recycling facility locations across the province in order to provide B.C. residents “with greater accessibility to convenient and free used oil recycling centres.”
The association has also created more signage at B.C. used oil recycling centres that explains how easy it is to recycle materials properly.
Municipalities, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other sectors interested in BCUOMA’s RCF new infrastructure grants can find out more information by clicking here.
Lawes said used oil is a valuable resource if it’s clean and collected quickly at a used oil recycling centre.
“It’s turned back into new lubricating oil. If it sits around the garage too long or gets dirty or contaminated, it’s really hard to recycle and likely ends up in a burning application or we have to dispose of it because it’s too contaminated to recycle.”
If it’s recycled quickly, used oil can be used as a fuel in pulp mills, cement plants and asphalt plants.
Any vehicle maintenance facilities, automobile owners, and other machinery maintenance operations that use oil also can use re-refined oil.
Additionally, used oil filters contain reusable scrap metal, which steel producers can reuse for metal products like rebar, nails and wire.
Used antifreeze can be reprocessed to produce new automotive antifreeze.
Plastic oil and antifreeze containers can be recycled into new oil containers, flower pots, pipe, guardrails, and patio furniture.
Each year, roughly 50 million litres of oil and three million litres of antifreeze are collected and responsibly managed through the approximately 300 public collection facilities and over 4,000 generators across the province, which are managed by the BCUOMA program.
Meanwhile, Lawes stressed it doesn’t cost anything to do your part for the environment.
“It’s free to drop it off at any of our facilities, there’s 300 across B.C. and now this really good facility in Campbell River.”
Lawes notes that you should do drop-offs at North Island Lube during the shop’s business hours.
For more on North Island Lube click here.
