When dealing with a used oil cleanup in the shop, the U.S. EPA recommends the following:
- Maximize the recovery of used oil;
- Minimize the generation of used oil sorbent waste by choosing reusable sorbent materials;
- Use the spent sorbent materials to produce recycled sorbent materials; and
- Buy sorbent materials with recycled content.
Extraction devices (e.g., centrifuges, wringers and compactors) can be used to recover used oil from reusable sorbent materials. Sorbent pads can be reused between two and eight times depending on the viscosity of the used oil. These technologies, while not required, can be used to reduce the number of sorbent pads ultimately sent for remanufacture, energy recovery or disposal. The potential to reduce waste and save money (i.e., lower disposal costs for spent pads and lower per use cost of sorbent pads) by reusing and recycling sorbent pads can be substantial.
What to do with cleanup materials
Shops should remove as much of the free-flowing oil as possible from rags or other sorbent materials used for cleaning up a leak or spill. This excess used oil should be managed in the same manner as other used oil collected in the shop.
Once the free-flowing used oil has been removed from these materials, they are not considered used oil and may be managed as solid waste as long as they do not exhibit a hazardous waste characteristic. Note, however, that materials from which used oil has been removed continue to be regulated as used oil if they are to be burned for energy recovery (regardless of the degree of removal).
