Oils and fats are an essential part of every day for many Americans. It is an unfortunate fact that many people simply discard spent oil such as that used in cars, reports the Environmental Protection Agency. Waste oils come from more than petroleum sources; they also come from animals and plants. Recycling waste oils reduces society's impact on the environment and helps the economy.
Waste Motor oil is problemic for the environment.
Petroleum
Every car that uses an internal combustion engine uses motor oil as a lubricant to help the engine's moving parts and as an engine coolant. Dirt and metal scrapings can contaminate motor oil so that it no longer provides viscosity for the engine. Spent motor oil proposes a problem for waste disposal because it takes a long time to break down and does not dilute in water, according to the EPA.
Animal Fats and Oils
Many people generate grease waste from cooking with animal fats like lard, but restaurants generate the majority of grease waste. Grease, like oil, separates from water and solidifies. Most restaurants have a grease trap to prevent used cooking from entering the sewage system, grease spills still occur. Once entered into a sewage system, grease can clog drains and cause overflows, according to St. Petersburg's Grease Management Program.
Non-Animal Oils
People can also create oil waste from using fats and oils that occur naturally from crops, such as soybeans and olives. Most natural oils are labeled under the broad term of "vegetable oil." According to Chow.com, about 85 percent of the vegetable oil sold in the United States is derived from soybeans. Vegetable oil, like grease, if often used is restaurants and very troublesome for sewage systems.
Significance
The EPA reports that used motor oil alone accounts for 200 million gallons of waste oil per year. Used motor can be recycled to create virgin lubricating oil at a much more efficient rate than production from crude oil, claims the EPA. The average household could meet their electricity needs for an entire day off of 2 gallons of recycled oil, reports the American Petroleum Institute.
Potential
Waste oils could potentially mitigate some of the dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, claims the EPA. Just about any animal fat and cooking oil can be refined into clean burning biodiesel with the simple addition of an alcohol compound. Even the pioneers of the automobile tried to use vegetable and animals as fuel for cars.
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