Contaminated WVO disposal?

April 8, 2011 9:42 AM

Where can I dispose of contaminated vegetable oil?

My wife's benz drives on Waste Vegetable Oil, which we pick up from a local restaurant. Then we filter it, and drive her car. No problem. Except during a recent spate of wet weather the slapdash cover I'd designed to keep the oil free of water was shown to be... inadequate.

So I've got a lot of oil (probably a pick up truck full) in 5 gallon cartons that I can't drive my car on and need to get rid of. We also had a little spill (comedy of errors) so this stuff also has some of that spill absorber stuff in it. All told not good stuff to recycle I'd think...

I'm in Los Angeles, but even the type of business to google would be helpful.

Standard trash dumps don't seem to want it...

posted by gilgamix to home & garden (11 answers total)

Have you tried talking to a restaurant and seeing if you can leave it with their used oil?
posted by theichibun at 9:43 AM on April 8, 2011

Take it to the rendering place.http://www.calfog.org/docs/lacsdrendering.pdf
list for your area scroll down.
posted by hortense at 9:47 AM on April 8, 2011

Do you have a hazardous waste center near you? They might be able to take it.
posted by corey flood at 9:48 AM on April 8, 2011

Garages that do oil changes might be able to help you. They'll probably charge you the environmental fee and maybe a little extra.
posted by backseatpilot at 9:56 AM on April 8, 2011

I would look for an oil solidifying agent supplier that does wholesale.
posted by Tarumba at 9:57 AM on April 8, 2011

You're in LA County? Call the County Sanitation Hotline -- [phone]. (Info from CalRecycle.com.)
posted by pie ninja at 10:10 AM on April 8, 2011

I would look for an oil solidifying agent supplier that does wholesale.

These don't work with biodiesels or WVO. The chemistry is wrong. I've tested a lot of these products myself. Propylene sorbents or even kitty litter good choices for biological oil spills.

Those recommending calling recycling companies are right. I don't know the LA market, but it looks like any of the companies on this list could dispose of it for you.
posted by Anonymous 5$ Sockpuppet at 10:21 AM on April 8, 2011

Vegetable oil can be turned solid. There is a Japanese product that does this called katameru tenpuru. You put this powder in your waste oil and it will solidify. That being said, for the quantities you are talking about this would be quite expensive.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:35 AM on April 8, 2011

Whenever I get bad oil, I'll exchange it with a restaurant in exchange for good oil. Many restaurants are more receptive to this idea since if you take out as much as you put back, the oil company they have a contract with won't know the difference. This means you can explore restaurants other than where you usually go (or restaurants who have turned you down before). It's a good deal for you, and no harm for them. And the oil companies are prepared to deal with contaminants like water. Good luck.
posted by daboo at 10:36 AM on April 8, 2011

I may be wrong here but water contimination doesn't make the oil toxic and wvo can be safely poured out on the ground or in a shallow trench and covered or just composted. It is biological and will serve as a feedstock to lots and lots of organisms.

If you have added some chemicals for use as fuel that may (or may not) alter its toxicity. I wouldn't pour it out into a storm drain or anything where it will either foul up the pipes or form oil slicks but just pouring it out onto a healthy soil or compost pile appears to be a good way to get rid of it.

There are also ways to get the water contimination out of oil (usually heating it up and driving off the water) that may or may not be feasible to you. Just letting it sit for a long period of time should allow it seperate out and you can skim off the water and still use the oil?
posted by bartonlong at 10:51 AM on April 8, 2011

The water will contaminate the fuel to the point where it will emulsify easily in the fuel lines and pumps. this is one of the difficulties with WVO/biodisels. It's not that wet WVO won't burn, it's that it can make a mess of your fuel system.

Dumping isn't such a great idea either unless the poster has a large field that they don't mind using for a year or so. I get the impression that the poster has a few hundred gallons of fuel. To landfarm, you want to start with a soil concentration of about 10,000 ppm or 1% or so. They would need a 10th of an acre for each standard barrel (and a sprayer, etc..) to do it right. Plus there are rules about how close to a watercourse you can be, and so forth. Just dumping it in even a dry ditch risks a pretty substantial fine if someone reports you.

It's not just the toxicity issue, there are also concerns about bird fouling (non-toxic oils can kill water birds that get it on their feathers), eutrophication (oxygen depletion) and water quality aesthetics.

any portmanteau in a storm, I'd never seen that product before, thanks! My concern was that there are a lot of petroleum spill solidifier companies who will happily take your money for their products for use with WVO or biodiesels which don't work at all.
posted by Anonymous 5$ Sockpuppet at 11:08 AM on April 8, 2011