Many service stations, auto repair shops, parts stores and local governments provide collection sites for these waste products.  Information on the collection center locations may be accessed through DEQ's Toll-Free Hotline number, 1-800-592-5482.  The current database identifies over 1,000 collection sites for these materials in Virginia, in categories of private businesses, locality-based collection centers, and facilities that use the collected oil in waste oil burners on-site. 

 The Used Oil Recycling Program was originally directed towards Do-It-Yourself (DIY) oil changers, and as DIY'ers appear to fewer in number today, the used oil recycling program promotes the responsible management of used motor oils, antifreeze and other automotive engine maintenance fluids, and oil filters by all sectors, both public and private.  As an environmental hazard, used motor oil or antifreeze should never be poured on the ground or down a storm drain.  When managed properly, used motor oil, oil filters and antifreeze and other automotive engine maintenance fluids can be recycled or "beneficially used."

Please contact your local collection site to make sure that they are still collecting these automotive waste products. Also, remember to bring your materials in appropriate containers. For safety reasons, you should not transport liquids in glass containers. Also, you should wrap your used oil filters in paper to prevent leaks or spills. YOU SHOULD NEVER MIX other fluids with your oil or antifreeze.

For information on the impacts of the improper disposal of used motor oil and the recommended methods of collecting used oil for recycling and reuse, please refer to the American Petroleum Institute's Used Motor Oil Collection and Recycling Website at www.recycleoil.org and EPA's Used Oil Management Program at www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/usedoil/. 

For additional information, please contact: Steve Coe at (804-698-4029).

** Retailers that sell motor oil, oil filters and other automotive engine maintenance fluids but do not accept these products for recycling can download a "Recycling" poster to provide information to their customers using this web link.