Brief: New used oil, antifreeze (and more) recycling option in Revelstoke

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Contributed by the B.C. Used Oil Management Centre

BC Used Oil Management Association (BCUOMA), a not-for-profit group dedicated to the collection and recycling of lubricating oil, oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze and antifreeze containers in British Columbia, today announced that it has made significant improvements to its BC Used Oil Recycling Centre at the Revelstoke Refuse Disposal Facility in order to provide an easy, free and eco-friendly way to dispose of these materials on Saturdays.

BCUOMA is providing infrastructure grants for recycling centres that need additional robust infrastructure for their facility, such as tanks, covered sheds, or other containment materials for their used oil, antifreeze, filters and containers. BCUOMA is also looking for new recycling facility locations across the province in order to provide British Columbians with greater accessibility to convenient and free used oil recycling centres.

BCUOMA has also created more signage at the BC Used Oil Recycling Centre at the Revelstoke Refuse Disposal facility at 330 Westside Road, that explains how easy it is to recycle materials properly. The BCUOMA Ambassadors visited multiple communities across the province throughout the summer promoting the locations of the free recycling facilities, and educating the public as to how easy it is to recycle materials at the BC Used Oil Recycling Centres.

Used oil is a valuable resource and there is a market for used oil. If it is disposed of at a BC Used Oil Recycling Centre, it can be recovered and re-used. Used oil can be re-refined into new lubricating oil and 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, flowerpots, pipe, guardrails, and patio furniture.

Each year, approximately 50 million litres of oil, and 3 million liters 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.