Waste or unwanted motor oil should not be put into recycling or rubbish bins as it is unable to be correctly processed or treated this way. Furthermore, waste oil that spills into collection trucks can ignite fires when in contact with hot surfaces, for example with the exhaust of the truck.
Instead, residents can dispose of up to 20L of waste oil for free at Council landfills as well as at the Cannonvale, Collinsville and Mount Coolon Transfer Stations.
Use a clean metal or appropriate plastic container with a tightly sealed lid to collect your oil before taking it to be recycled. Appropriate plastic containers must be made of polyethylene (e.g. the original motor oil container) and not an empty milk bottle for example.
Waste oil can then be refined through the correct systems into new oil, processed into fuel oils, or used as raw materials for the petroleum industry. By recycling our waste oil efficiently, we greatly reduce the hazardous effects it could have on our delicate environment.
For more information, visit the Waste and Recycling section of our website: www.whitsundayrc.qld.gov.au
