Residents in the West Chilcotin have access to an improved oil recycling facility.
Recently the BC Used Oil Management Association (BCUOMA) installed a new modified shipping container at 21731 Highway 20 to collect used lubricating oil, oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze and antifreeze containers,
David Lawes, executive director of the association, said the CRD was collecting used oil at the site but wasn’t happy with the infrastructure and approached BCUOMA asking for a new facility at its West Chilcotin Landfill between Nimpo Lake an Anahim Lake.
“The container has a grated floor to catch any drips that come from any of the oil or antifreeze containers in a pan below,” Lawes said.
“It has a double-walled tank inside so it is very protected and it has got really nice signage which makes it easy for people to understand how to recycle the oil and where to put everything.”
Read more: Potato chip bag, plastic pouch recycling now accepted in Cariboo
Providing the infrastructure is making it easier for people to recycle, he added.
Collection centres are set up across the province in many different locations.
The Cariboo Regional District will operate the site and BCUOMA has provided a list of registered collection companies that can pump out the oil.
“They pick and choose which company they want to work with.”
There are 11 zones in the province and the association gives companies an incentive based on volume, he added.
Three quarters of the oil collected in B.C. gets changed into new lubricating oil and all the antifreeze is cleaned up and put over as new antifreeze, while the oil filters and containers are recycled in the metal or plastic markets.
About 96 per cent of the oil collected comes from gas stations and other shops, while the remainder is from people who change their own oil or small businesses that prefer to take smaller amounts to collection sites themselves.
“We find the quicker we get it back the more rapidly we can turn it into usable oil” Lawes said, noting if the used oil sits for long it gets dirt and other contaminants mixed with it then it is unlikely to get turned back into lubricating oil and has to be treated differently.
“This is why we want these facilities.”
Cariboo Regional District manager of communications said the BCUOMA has committed to providing two more containers, one for Nazko Landfill and one either for Punzti or Tatla Lake Landfill.
Each year, approximately 50 million litres of oil, and three million litres of antifreeze are collected and responsibly managed through approximately 300 public collection facilities and over 4,000 generators across the province, which are managed by the BCUOMA program.
“It is like 20 Olympic size swimming pools worth every year so it’s a good thing we collect it,” Lawes said.
BCUOMA started the oil recycling infrastructure program about a year and half ago, working with engineers to come up with the design for the collection sites.
A non-profit entity, the association is funded by the producers, manufacturers and people that sell the oil and antifreeze, Lawes said.
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