Summer ambassadors for the used oil recycling program were in Williams Lake Monday and Tuesday visiting six used oil recycling collection facilities and asking managers how their program is going.
The goal of the program by the British Columbia Used Oil Management (not for profit) Association is to generate public awareness to keep hazardous materials such as used oil and antifreeze out of our drinking water and landfills with the message “one drop makes a difference.”
Summer students Ali Amelaniec and Emily Louie are working on the program and are driving a white vehicle that looks like it has had a giant blob of oil dropped on it.
Brent Graham at Chaps Auto Body has been involved in recycling oil, oil filters, antifreeze and their containers since about 1987 as a Petro Canada operator.
He has owned Chaps for about a year and a half and continues to support the program, which he says needs to be regulated by government.
Amelaniec and Louie say they are encouraging people who maintain their own vehicles to use the oil recycling stations to dispose of used oil, antifreeze, filters and oil containers.
BCUOM says that more than 18 million litres of used oil is not recovered by the BC Used Oil program each year. These oils are extremely hazardous to our environment and drinking water; instead of sitting in our landfills, used oil can be recycled into a variety of useful products.
For more information visit www.usedoilrecycling.com.