Old coolant disposal

[ChrsLytn]

What does everybody do with old coolant after you drain and flush the system and refill with new? If it turns acidic over time it turns into a liability once you collect it. I used to dump it wherever (within reason) but I don't anymore and i have several gallons I'm tired of looking at. I doubt the parts stores want it dumped with old motor oil. Hmmm.

 

[scott2093]

We have a landfill with a free household/chemical waste section.
I bring my oil there too because they said they actually use the oil somehow and prefer I bring it to them..... so it helps the county I'm in at least in some way...

 

[xXxPARAGONxXx]

My county has a hazardous waste disposal collection twice a year in my area. That's where I dispose of anything that I can't take to the local auto parts store. May want to see if your city or county has anything similar. My taxes help fund it, so you bet I'm going to be using it.

 

[GoToGuy]

In the US contact your city, county, even state dept that oversees hazardous waste disposal. Often the " public works dept. " people. Oversee the household hazmat waste pickup dropoff events, or families. In CALIFORNIA, there's small fee on petroleum products, property taxes; that funds those programs,drop offs and such.
On a city/ municipal water treatment system. ( Read= NOT storm drains, curbside gutter, or home septic leach lines. ) IF Allowed ,On municipal, sewer systems you can dispose old radiator coolant. It goes through treatments to before being leached or used as recycled landscape irrigation. Sometimes known as grey water recycling. A few calls, or quick local Google search should get you any info you need.
Here in California, with the worst state legislature since " Cesar fiddled while Rome burned to crisp " , you can drop off / dump used oil and oil filters at Auto parts stores, O'Reilly's, AutoZone, Napa and such.
The " Household hazmat waste program " is one of the FEW, maybe the realm of 1% of hundreds of programs the State implemented that works for the good of all involved, and was a good idea from the start.

 

[Road Trip]

What does everybody do with old coolant after you drain and flush the system and refill with new? If it turns acidic over time it turns into a liability once you collect it. I used to dump it wherever (within reason) but I don't anymore and i have several gallons I'm tired of looking at. I doubt the parts stores want it dumped with old motor oil. Hmmm.

Hello ChrsLytn,

You are right about the parts stores not wanting antifreeze in with their used oil. Each store should have a
printed list of what is/is not accepted for 'oil recycling'. In general, if it's petroleum-based it's normally alright.
(transmission fluid, hydraulic fluid, power steering fluid, gear oil.)

On the other hand, non-petroleum based brake fluid and antifreeze disrupt the recycling process. Last I knew
Safety Kleen had the contract to service the oil recycling tanks at the Advance Auto stores, and according to
their driver once the tank went past a certain percentage of non-petroleum product (that it's process could handle)
the tank went from something that could be recycled to having to be treated as hazardous waste.
(Safety Kleen recycling 200 million gallons of oil each year.)

****

So what to do with antifreeze? After some poking around using 'antifreeze recycling' as a search term, a database
on the 'Earth911.com' came up. I tried it with my own zip code, and it correctly identified OCRRA as the hazardous waste
place for the upstate NY county I live in. (Onondaga county)

On a hunch, I loaded the 30122 zip code into this site, (earth911.com) and it came back with the following results:

You must be registered for see images attach

That helps the residents in Fulton & DeKalb counties, but if you are in Douglas County then this is not much help.

But then I stumbled across this page from a Douglasville shop by the name of DCAC: Douglas Country Auto Care. In it they
specifically mention antifreeze recycling:

You must be registered for see images attach

****

To recap, your question about recycling used antifreeze/coolant was timely, for I am planning on
servicing the cooling system on the chore truck in the near future, so I decided to see what was
out there to help me do right by the environment.

I'm all about driving my GMT400 as guilt-free as possible. And recycling all the fluids is the right thing
to do. If taking my used coolant to my county Hazmat location helps to keep it out of the local watershed,
then it's simply time well spent. And good on you for holding onto the used coolant while looking for
a recycling solution.

Hope one of the three choices I identified end up working out for you. Nothing looks quite as nice
as the freed up shop space where all the accumulated used coolant used to be.

Cheers --

 

[Drunkcanuk]

I'm sure your local city/town has that information on their website.
As for us, most cities have a "eco center" where you can take that kind of stuff.
Or my local landfill has an area for all that sort of stuff as well.

 

[454cid]

Thanks for the thread. I've got a couple of bottles to get rid of too.

We have a local events, but I've already missed a couple, which is the issue I typically have. It looks like the next county over will take it from my county and they have more opportunities for me to get it there.

I have poured it down the toilet before but I don't really like doing that.

 

[evilunclegrimace]

If you pay for garbage collection from a major company like Waste Management,or Advanced disposal they have a number to call and they will pick up used oil,coolant,paint and other hazardous materials.

 

[RoyBob]

Our city has recycle days, paint oil batteries, coolant pretty much anything

 

[ChrsLytn]

Hello ChrsLyton,

You are right about the parts stores not wanting antifreeze in with their used oil. Each store should have a
printed list of what is/is not accepted for 'oil recycling'. In general, if it's petroleum-based it's normally alright.
(transmission fluid, hydraulic fluid, power steering fluid, gear oil.)

On the other hand, non-petroleum based brake fluid and antifreeze disrupt the recycling process. Last I knew
Safety Kleen had the contract to service the oil recycling tanks at the Advance Auto stores, and according to
their driver once the tank went past a certain percentage of non-petroleum product (that it's process could handle)
the tank went from something that could be recycled to having to be treated as hazardous waste.
(Safety Kleen recycling 200 million gallons of oil each year.)

****

So what to do with antifreeze? After some poking around using 'antifreeze recycling' as a search term, a database
on the 'Earth911.com' came up. I tried it with my own zip code, and it correctly identified OCRRA as the hazardous waste
place for the upstate NY county I live in. (Onondaga county)

On a hunch, I loaded the 30122 zip code into this site, (earth911.com) and it came back with the following results:

You must be registered for see images attach

That helps the residents in Fulton & DeKalb counties, but if you are in Douglas County then this is not much help.

But then I stumbled across this page from a Douglasville shop by the name of DCAC: Douglas Country Auto Care. In it they
specifically mention antifreeze recycling:

You must be registered for see images attach

****

To recap, your question about recycling used antifreeze/coolant was timely, for I am planning on
servicing the cooling system on the chore truck in the near future, so I decided to see what was
out there to help me do right by the environment.

I'm all about driving my GMT400 as guilt-free as possible. And recycling all the fluids is the right thing
to do. If taking my used coolant to my county Hazmat location helps to keep it out of the local watershed,
then it's simply time well spent. And good on you for holding onto the used coolant while looking for
a recycling solution.

Hope one of the three choices I identified end up working out for you. Nothing looks quite as nice
as the freed up shop space where all the accumulated used coolant used to be.

Cheers --

Thank you, Road Trip, for doing the probing I could have/ should have done. But I guess the exposure of the predicament was a good thing for others too. And we all know that on a daily basis there's still folks that pour it out behind the shop or in the backyard and don't give a sh** about long term effects. I know the previous owner of Dgls County Auto Care. I haven't met whoever bought him out but I will soon. Thanks again.