When it comes down to it, clean water may be the most precious resource on the plant. All life forms depend on water for their very survival and, as a human being, you can only go about three days without drinking water before dehydration sets in, with death soon to follow. Fortunately, for those of us living in Western Canada, clean water is a plentiful resource. Without appropriate stewardship of those water resources, however, this may not always be the case.
Oil Recycling Prevents Pollution
One of the biggest risks to clean drinking water is the pollution posed by improper disposal of used oil. Oil recycling, which has long been a major concern for environmentalists, is something that you and every other citizen can promote by initiating your own oil recycling program and helping others understand the importance of doing the same. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
What you may not realize is that oil recycling not only makes good environmental sense but good economic sense too. That's because engine oil, gear oil and hydraulic oil used in your cars, trucks, motorcycles and other motorized equipment, although it gets dirty and needs to be regularly changed, can be cleaned and used again. The end product is called re-refined oil, which is just as pure as virgin oil but much cheaper to produce.
The benefit to the environment of recycling oil is massive. Here are some facts to consider:
Experts estimate that approximately 200 million gallons of used oils are disposed of improperly every year
It takes about 160 litres of crude to produce 2.5 litres of quality lubricating oil but only 3.8 litres of used oil to produce the same amount
One gallon of used of oil, improperly disposed of and finding its way into the water table, can contaminate as many as one million gallons of clean water and this contamination lasts for decades
The True Effects of Improper Oil Disposal
That last statistic is the most troubling, since one gallon of oil is about what's drained from a car during a typical oil change. Should someone changing their own motor oil decide to pour it onto the ground, into a storm drain or even bottle it up and send it to a landfill, that oil will eventually work its way right into your drinking water supply. The same holds true for used oil filters, which should be drained upon removal and recycled as reusable scrap instead of thrown away. Plastic containers should also be recycled as these are petroleum-based products that, when they eventually break down in the landfill, will produce the same water pollution problems.
Large users of oil products generally recycle their used oil for smart economic reasons as well as environmental concerns. Many use commercial oil recycling companies like Little Dipper to complete this process. Small individual users, on the other hand, have access to waste collection facilities that are set up to receive used oil. Contact Little Dipper for more information on how to begin recycling oil easily today!
