About Us

 

The British Columbia Used Oil Management Association(BCUOMA) is a not-for-profit organization open to all brand-owners of lubricating oil, oil filters and oil containers in British Columbia. Headquartered in Chilliwack, BCUOMA aims to facilitate and increase the collection, management and recycling of used oil materials in British Columbia. The used oil material recycling program offers British Columbians an environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution to disposing of used oil, oil filters and plastic oil containers. A multi-stakeholder Board of Directors manages BC Used Oil, with representatives from manufacturing, retailing, local government, and the public-at-large.

The program is funded by an Environmental Handling Charge (EHC). This is assessed on new oil ($.05/litre), oil containers ($.05/litre of containers) and oil filters less than 8 inches long ($.50), 8 inches or longer ($1.00) at the first point of sale or distribution in BC. The EHC is not a government tax, but a user-pay levy used solely to fund the collection of used oil, filters and containers (up to 30-litre capacity) at 520 collection centres and almost 4,000 other generators across the province.

In most cases the first seller is passing the EHC costs down to the retailer and consumer. For example, the EHC cost for an oil change on a standard car should be no more than $1.00. Should charges appear higher than the EHC outlined above, we encourage everyone to ask your service centre for clarification.

Since the program launched in 2003, recovery rates for used oil and oil-related products have seen promising improvements. However, given that more than 18 million litres of recyclable oil is not collected by the program each year in British Columbia, increased public awareness on recycling it through the BCUOMA program or safe alternative uses for this oil is critical to both the success of this program and the protection of health and the environment. Please refer to the Unaccounted Used Oil Study for further information on where the oil that bypasses the BCUOMA program ends up.

Used oil collected through the program (49 million litres in 2007) is re-refined into new lubricating oil and processed for use as a fuel in pulp mills, cement plants and in asphalt plants. Oil filters are crushed and taken to a steel mill to manufacture reinforcing steel, while plastic oil containers are recycled into new oil containers, drainage tiles and parking curbs.

Annually, BC Used Oil undertakes province-wide communications campaigns to encourage the proper recycling of used oil, filters and plastic containers. Click here to learn more about our summer ambassador program.

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