ExxonMobil announced last week that it has agreed to participate in a public-private partnership that encourages consumers to recycle used motor oil.
The company joins Castrol and Houston-based used oil collector Vertex Energyinsupporting Earth 911, a private, nonprofit organization that serves as a clearinghouse of information about recycling centers throughout the United States and Canada. The contributions of the oil companies include putting the Earth 911 logo on their motor oil labels.
A lot of used oil already gets recycles, but we still have a ways to go, Earth 911 President Tim Gormley said. Theres no better way to send that message than to have it on labels that people see when they change their oil.
Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Earth 911 maintains a website listing tens of thousands of locations where individuals can take used oil as well as aluminum, glass, newspaper, plastic and other materials to be recycled. The website (www.earth911.org) also provides information about recycling. The motor oil section discusses topics such as how to change a cars oil and filter and the various uses for recycled oil.
Gormley said ExxonMobil, Castrol and Vertex will help by assisting with promotional outreach, technical support and funding. In exchange, Earth 911will put links to each of the companies on its home page and will also mention them in television, radio and print public service announcements.
According to the American Petroleum Institute, the United States recycles 380 million gallons of used oil per year – 63 percent of the volume consumed.
ExxonMobils announcement noted that used oil can be burned as industrial fuel, which indeed is what happens to most recycled oil. The company did not mention programs that make rerefined base oil used to produce finished lubricants.