1st Prize Essay Writing

Sharifah Suryanti bte Malai Hj Abdullah
Sekolah Menengah Perdana Wazir

"Used oil is a valuable resource when cleaned of its impurities and re-refined..." (Westlawn Civic Association web site, reprinted from the Spring 1998 Civic Association Mailing, obtained via the Internet). There is no doubting the benefits of using recycled oil. As my source goes on to say, several US brands of recycled oil have been "successfully marketed as premium recycled motor oils". (ibid. 1998 Civic Association Mailing) Here, the used, recycled product is made as good as the original. Why then recycle and reuse waste oil? Apart from the economic common sense of making use of an expensive product twice over, there are pressing energy and environmental reasons to recycle and reuse waste oil. Oil - and its fossil fuel derivatives - is a non-renewable resource i.e. once all the crude oil has been pumped from the earth resources will end. There is a need to start using recycled waste oil to supplement fossil fuel stocks. Recycling waste oil and using the end product is efficient and economical, as well as energy saving. It is amazing to realise for example, that it takes 67 gallons of crude oil to produce one gallon of motor oil but only 1.6 gallons of waste oil to make one gallon of motor oil!

There are a range of uses waste oil can be put to in order to conserve energy. Firstly, what is 'waste oil'? 'Waste oil' is oil that has been used for its intended purpose and degraded from its original condition. The main use of recycled oil is as a fuel for heating for example regionally, in brick factories. Recycled oil is blended with virgin stock or re-refined into a usable heating fuel. Recycled oil can also be turned into diesel for use in machinery and vehicles. Diesel is a cheap and energy saying alternative to petrol and other hydrocarbon fuels. Waste oil needs to be of good quality for this recycling process. As mentioned above, recycled oil can also be made into reusable lubricating oil!

Another energy conservation bonus from recycling waste oil is that the actual process of recycling is itself economical, efficient and environmentally friendly. We visited CIC Environmental Services Sdn Bhd in Kuala Belait to get an idea about how waste oil is recycled. Waste oil is pumped through a furnace and heated. This gets rid of water, volatile oils and chemical substances in it. Heavy oil remains after distillation - and this is CIC's main saleable 'product'. Light oil and water are evaporated and accumulated and these go through oil/water separation: the water goes to a biological water treatment plant (where microorganisms are employed to take up unwanted organic matter) and is then discharged - 'clean' - back into the environment. light oil (a by-product of this process) gets fed back into CIC's furnace to heat the whole system. CIC generates its own fuel this way so the process supplies its own energy needs i.e. it is in part self-sufficient. There is enough of this product left over to supply outside companies on a commercial basis. The final bonus of this process is that it is - at every stage ~ environmentally friendly, as well as energy efficient!

In addition to energy saying qualities, use of recycled oil has many other advantages. For example, creation of employment, sharing of technologies and expertise between nations, attraction of foreign investment in local economies, earning sort after export dollars for a country's economy (most of CIC's recycled oil is exported regionally), and helping foster public awareness of energy and environmental conservation issues.

Few of the good things in life are 'free'. This also applies to recycling and using waste oil. Governments, lubricating oil related businesses and consumers have clear responsibilities in fostering conservation of energy through use of recycled oil. World wide, waste oil recycling is a privatised business. Consequently, we will have to pay to have our waste oil recycled if the energy conservation and environmental benefits are to be reaped. This will mean for example that in Brunei, where waste oil management and recycling is still a developing market, user companies will need to pay to have their waste oil removed by recycling companies. A change of thinking with respect to waste management will be called for. Why? In the past companies were often paid for waste materials - like metals - that they wanted removed from their premises. Having to pay waste oil recycling companies like CIC will mean passing this cost on to customers - a difficult choice in the competitive world of car workshops.

As consumers, we also have a part to play. We must accept our responsibility to conserve energy and protect the environment by paying more for the oil we use in our motor vehicles. For the average car workshop, Mr. Lim, Manager at CIC, estimates this cost at between $4 - $5 per oil change: a small price to pay for energy conserved and the environment protected.

For waste oil recycling to be successful, public education is crucial. People need to be persuaded of the energy savings and environmental benefits that come from it. Essay competition such as this, are an excellent model of such education. There should be government legislation concerning the disposal of waste products to encourage and assist recycling companies in their business. Some sort of subsidy for waste oil management might be considered as a way of setting small businesses oft along the road to waste oil recycling. Whatever the outcomes, the key benefits to our community from waste oil recycling and its use, are clear: huge energy savings as well as protection of the environment. If we are to avoid becoming 'fossilised' in the near future, we need to conserve energy - and the environment - now, by recycling and reusing fossil fuel, namely 'oil'.

Sources Used:

Tape recorded interview with the Manager of CIC Environmental Service Sdn Bhd, Kuala Belait
CIC Environmental Services Sdn Bhd -A Brief Introduction (booklet given to us by Mr. Lim)
Internet search using Ask Jeeves search engine and keying in the words "What are the energy
conservation properties of recycled oil?"
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Internet Home Page
Environmental Oil limited, Australia, Internet Home Page
S.M. Perdana Wazir Cathay Inter-school Competition 1999 Team - Group discussion