I change my oil to save money (and to keep people who don't give a **** about my car away from the vital fluids). When I'm done, I take the used oil to a lube shop and they gladly accept it for free.

A coworker was interested to see that I do my own oil changes and I explained how easy it is and how much it saves. So he does his own oil too. But when he went to the Honda dealer to return the used oil they told him to buzz off.

Is there some law or EPA standard that mandates oil changing places to accept used oil? I looked around the EPA website and searched for CA Solid Waste Management, but didn't find anything. I would have hoped that any place which changes oil would be required to accept used oil, but it doesn't look to be the case.

 

take it to kragen, they accept used oil

i am sure that there isn't a law requiring places to accept oil since i believe those places get charged to dispose of it.

 

recycling picks up used oil...at least in san mateo they do. I put out milk jugs of it clearly marked as used oil and they pick it up, dump it in the container they have and off it goes. super convenient.

 

BFI in fremont requires you to use their milk jugs that have a special sticker.

ask about recycling the oil filter too!

 

does recycling in SF take it? I'm by a Kragen anyway

 

I have no problems finding a place for my used oil, I was just wondering about the Honda dealership not accepting my friend's oil.

I figured there were EPA laws that mandated lube shops to accept a reasonable amount of non-commercial used oil to prevent people from dumping it down the storm drains.

I would like to see a law like this. It makes me angry at the Honda dealership for not having the environmental responsibility to take the oil -- especially from a customer with an expensive S-2000.

 

Jiffy Lube accepts used oil for recycling.

 

i would think the dealers should except used oil since they are changing oil all the time, i have never taken it back to the dealer though. I did take coolant back to the dealer once and they were nice enough to take it even though i could see they didn't want to.

 

There used to be a law like this when I was younger (I remember my dad showing the guy at Jiffylube that he HAD to take our oil). That was probably about 10 years ago though, so I guess the law is gone now. Probably has to do with the fact that it costs $$ to get rid of oil. Too bad...the Governator sure won't bring that law back.

BTW, Pick n Pull junkyards also have big barrels you can empty used oil into. They won't take filters though.

 

dealerships have to pay the recycling company to come out and pump the used oil out. So basically they would be paying for your co-worker to recycle his use oil. But some dealerships are nice and don't care and take it.

 

Some gas stations have signs that say they take used oil. I would guess that most gas stations that do service would take it w/o any problems.

 

The real issue here is that they wouldn't accept it at the dealership. I had heard there were laws forcing them to accept it -- for obvious and socially responsible environmental issues.

The issue here is that the Honda dealer is a heartless **** for not accepting used oil. I dislike them severly for it. I'm not a member of the Sierra Club or any crap like that, but I expect a dealership that sold a person a $35k car to take his used oil for the sake of the environment.

I wanted someone to know about a law (federal, state, or city) that I could give to the dealership. Something that would legally force them to do what they should be doing anyway -- to do the right thing.

These guys had a bad attitude about doing the right thing. I bet they wouldn't stop for a baby carriage in a cross walk. I wanted to put the EPA on them.

 

I'm pretty sure that when you get your oil (or any fluids) changed at a dealership they will tag on a recycling/disposal fee. Dealerships are always out to make a buck, and they aren't very flexable when it comes to their policies. As a protest, I would just go somewhere else...not just for the oil but for any major services in the future as well.

 

I dunno about the dealership, but for my auto shop, we have barrels meant for used oil. For us, we pay a set fee no matter how much or how little the barrel is filled. I'm sure the dealership would have a similar plan because they never know how many car's oil changes they're going to have to do.

 

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/UsedOil/Recycle.htm