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MANAGING USED OIL EPA’s tips for small businesses
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Posted on Jun 24 1999
If your business generates or handles used oil, there are certain good housekeeping practices that you must follow. These required practices, called “management standards,” were developed by EPA for businesses that handle used oil.
The management standards are common sense, good business practices designed to ensure the safe handling of used oil, to maximize recycling, and to minimize disposal. The standards apply to all used oil they handlers, regardless of the amount of the oil they handle.
Although different used oil handlers may have specific requirements, the following requirements are common to all types of handlers. These requirements relate to storage and to cleaning up leaks and spills, as follows:
Storage
• Label all containers and tanks as USED OIL.
• Keep containers and tanks in good condition. Don’t allow tanks to rust, leak, or deteriorate. Fix the structural defects immediately.
• Never store used oil anything other than tanks and storage containers. Used oil may also be stored in units that are permitted to store regulated hazardous waste. Tanks and containers storing used oil do no need to be RCRA permitted, however, as long as they are labeled and in good condition. Storage of used oil in lagoons, pits, or surface impoundment that are not permitted under RCRA is prohibited.
Oil leaks or spills
• Take steps to prevent leaks and spills. Keep machinery, equipment containers, and tanks in good working condition and be careful when transferring used oil. Have sorbent materials available on site.
• If a spill or leak occurs, stop the oil from flowing at the source. If a leak from a container or tank can’t be stopped, put the oil in another holding container or tank.
• Contain spilled oil. For example, containment can be accomplished by erecting sorbent berms or by spreading a sorbent over the oil and surrounding area.
• Clean up the oil and recycle the used oil as you would have before it was spilled. If recycling is not possible, you first must ensure the used oil is not a hazardous waste and dispose of it appropriately.
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Source: US Environmental Protection Agency
