If you’re looking to recycle motor oil, oil filters and antifreeze in Trail, then the place to go is OK Tire.
Better yet, the easy and eco-friendly way to dispose of this particular waste, is free.
OK Tire Trail, located at 8147 Old Waneta Road, recently upgraded their used oil recycling drop off site by installing a modified sea-can to help with responsible collection and management of lubricating oil, antifreeze, filters and containers.
Locals living in the city, and surrounding areas, are asked to access this service during OK Tire’s regular business hours, which are Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Additionally, all recyclers are asked to check in at the business desk before disposing their products.
“What we need is everybody to stop in upfront to date and sign a form with how much they are dropping off,” explained Rocky Dickson, a co-owner at OK Tire. “If they haven’t been here before we just show them where they can do this. And, it’s getting to be where we have a lot of returning people so they just pop in, sign it, and away they go.”
After signing off on quantity of product being recycled, users are then required to pour their used oil and/or antifreeze into the clearly marked receptacles inside the sea-can. There’s also a designated bag for emptied plastic containers.
“We used to empty it all ourselves when we first started, but then one of my employees was tied up for a couple of hours a day just emptying,” said Dickson. “So now we get the customers to just pour it in themselves. We have a 2,500-litre container that you pour oil into, we have drums for coolant, and then we have a spot with a plastic bag for the empties.”
OK Tire must submit a tally of used oil and antifreeze products to the government every three months, which is why Dickson reminds the public to stop in the office and jot down the volume of waste they are dropping off.
“That will really help us out,” he said.
Only used motor oil, oil filters and antifreeze can be recycled at this site.
OK Tire Trail was able to upgrade their recycling facility with the help of a Return Collection Facility infrastructure grant from the BC Used Oil Management Association (BCUOMA), a non-profit dedicated to the collection and recycling of lubricating oil, oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze and antifreeze containers in British Columbia.
“It is great to see Darrell and Rocky Dickson, owners of OK Tire in Trail, being proactive in upgrading their used oil recycling infrastructure to ensure that their customers have an easy and convenient facility to dispose of their used oil and antifreeze materials,” said David Lawes, BCUOMA executive director.
“The infrastructure has signage explaining the simple steps to recycling used oil and antifreeze materials, and there isn’t any cost to customers to recycle these items.”
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, all managed by the BCUOMA program.
Used oil is a valuable resource and there is a market for it. When these materials are disposed of at a B.C. 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.
As well, used oil filters contain 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.
The purpose of the association’s Return Collection Facility (RCF) infrastructure grant program is to ensure that there are sufficient RCFs across British Columbia so do-it-yourself consumers can take back their used oil and antifreeze materials for processing at no charge.
The program also requires the responsible environmental handling, collection, transportation, storage, processing and disposal of used oil and antifreeze material using economic, efficient and environmentally acceptable options.
About BC Used Oil Management Association
Formed in 2003, the not-for-profit is dedicated to the collection and recycling of lubricating oil, oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze and antifreeze containers in B.C. The goal is to provide British Columbians with an eco-friendly and cost-effective way to dispose of these materials.
BCUOMA continues to look for opportunities to upgrade and improve recycling facility locations across the province in order to provide British Columbians 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 at http://bcusedoil.com.
