1998 State Recycling Award - Oil Filter Recovery Service, Kelmscott

28/9/98

A successful venture to make the car industry more environmentally friendly has won a local company recognition in the annual State Recycling and Waste Reduction Awards, presented by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Oil Filter Recovery Service, based in Kelmscott, was presented the 1998 industry award for businesses with a turnover under $1 million by Environment Minister Cheryl Edwardes at an awards ceremony last Friday night.

The company collects oil filters from service stations, car dealerships and minesites and crushes them to recover both the oil and steel, so diverting the filters from landfill and reducing the chance of contamination from waste oil.

The recovered oil is then used in furnaces and the steel is recycled, which also decreases the consumption of the raw materials and energy needed to make steel.

Mrs Edwardes said it was wonderful to see companies expanding recycling services into industries that were not normally linked with environmental protection.

"The success of Oil Filter Recovery Service shows that recycling and reusing efforts can be introduced into any sector, even those like the car servicing industry that can produce large quantities of hazardous waste," she said.

The company currently collects used oil filters from 180 businesses in Perth and country areas, and is also recovering engine coolant, batteries, scrap steel, tyres and used rags.

In the last year alone the company recovered half a million oil filters, yielding 92 tonnes of used oil and 167 tonnes of steel that would previously have gone to landfill.

"The used oil from one oil change is enough to contaminate more than one million litres of fresh water, and this water can stay polluted for as long as 100 years," the Minister said.

"This service significantly reduces the likelihood of such environmental contamination and also decreases the volume of landfill waste, which will help WA to reach its target of halving landfill by the year 2000."

Mrs Edwardes also congratulated the other award winners: City of Stirling, Hyatt Regency Perth, the Lions Club of Leeuwin, Walpole Primary School, the South West (WA) Local Government Association, and Vermiculture Project Management Pty Ltd.

Media contact: Nicole Trigwell 9421 7777