Example I

You own an auto shop that collects around 560 used oil filters per month and you don’t own an oil filter crusher.

Your total monthly disposal costs for eight 55-gallon drums of uncrushed oil filters would be around $400-$600.

Net annual expense: $4,800-$7,200

Net 5-year expense: $24,000-$36,000

Example 2

You purchase the Oberg Model P100WM automotive and light duty oil filter crusher that can crush up to five automotive filters per cycle.  And since it’s cycle time is less than a minute, you could theoretically crush up to 250-300 filters per hour.

Even if we scale it back to say 200 filters per hour, you can easily crush 1,600 oil filters with 16 hours of effort.  You can get approximately 260 crusher filters into a 55-gallon drum and it takes 16 of those 55-gallon drums to get a ton of recyclable steel. 

In short, you should be able to crush enough filters during 16 hours of operation of the Oberg Model P100WM to produce a ton of recyclable steel. 

Assuming you are paying around $10 per hour for the person who is operating the crusher, your operation cost should be less than $200 per month to crush all the oil filters. Of course, if you make the operation of the crusher part of a larger process, the actual time spent on the crushing, IE your cost of operation, will drop.

Assuming you can sell the crushed oil filters for $100 per ton, you’d still be $100 in the red.

However, you may be able sell the recaptured oil. Assuming that you can recover one gallon of used motor oil from every 50 filters that you crush, you’d get about 10 gallons of oil from the 520 filters you crushed.

If you were lucky, you might be able to sell the oil for $5-10.  But, you’d still be losing $90 for the labor costs. 

Even if you can’t sell the crushed filters or the oil, you’d be reducing the number of 55-gallon drums you’d fill to two.  Thus your pick up costs would be greatly reduced.

Net annual expense: $1,200-$3,000

Net 5-year expense: $6,000-$15,000

So how exactly does the Oberg Oberg P100WM filter crusher pay for itself.  Worst case, in the above scenario, the savings in disposal costs alone would pay for the crusher within the first 12-14 months of operation.  And, over a five year period, it would pay for itself up to five times over.

Net annual savings: $3,600-$4,200

Net 5-year savings: $18,000-$21,000

(Note: For all calculations related to recycling fees, disposal and labor costs, I used the average of publicly stated market rates as of March 1st, 2020.)

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The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has published an excellent best practices guide for motor vehicle recyclers that specifically focuses on the disposal of used oil and used oil filters.

Some the recommendations for the disposal of oil from end-of-life vehicles include:

1. Remove used oil from end-of-life vehicles soon after they arrive at the facility. Do this over an impervious surface (for example, concrete) and use a drip pan.

2. Store used oil in a tank or container that is in good condition and label it: “Used Oil for Recycling.” (If you are not recycling the used oil, label the container according to hazardous waste requirements.)

3. To prevent spills, use a funnel when transferring used oil to the storage container. If spills cannot be avoided, place the container on a drip pan or similar device to collect the spilled oil.

4. Never mix used oil with gasoline, antifreeze, solvents, or other such fluids. (These mixtures cannot be legally burned in used oil furnaces and must be managed as a hazardous waste.)

5.  Used engine oil may be mixed with other types of uncontaminated oil and lubricants, including transmission fluid, differential oil, brake fluid, power-steering fluid, and transaxle fluid. Keep all used oil containers and tanks tightly sealed when not in use. 

“The best way to fully drain a filter is to use a filter crusher.” New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

Best practices cited for recycling of used oil filters include:

1. Fully drained used oil filters are not a hazardous waste and can be sent to a scrap metal recycler with other scrap metal from your facility.

2. Puncture and drain oil filters over a drip rack or drain table, at room temperature (60° F) or warmer for at least 12 hours, or use a filter crusher.

3. The best way to fully drain a filter is to use a filter crusher. 

The entire Best Management Practices for Motor Vehicle Recyclers – Used Oil & Used Oil Filters can be dowloaded from: https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/waste/swmb/tsei/greenyards/documents/bmp_used_oil.pdf

For more information and resources related to oil filter disposal and recycling please visit: https://oberg-crusher.com/information-for-oil-filter-filter-disposal-and-recycling/

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We’d like to share with everyone some of the most important resources related to oil filter disposal and recycling.

NORA, An Association of Responsible Recyclers

Established in 1985 as the National Oil Recyclers Association, the trade association is now known as NORA, An Association of Responsible Recyclers.  NORA represents over 325 leading companies in the liquid recycling industry and conducts 3-4 large industry events per year.

If you are in the oil recycling or oil filter recycling business, NORA’s website, publications, and events are a must-see.

https://www.noranews.org/

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Are you curious what the federal government has to say about handling used oil and oil filters? The EPA’s website is a good place to start.  The EPA provides information on best practices and regulatory requirements for both consumers and businesses. 

https://www.epa.gov/hw/managing-used-oil-answers-frequent-questions-businesses

The National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP)

The NSCEP provides an archive of government publications related to protecting the environment and oil and oil filter recycling. Use the search tool to find publications such as What Should I Do With Oil Filters,  Environmental Fact Sheet: Properly Managing Used Oil Filters, and Used Oil and Hazardous Waste Management For Auto and Aircraft Repair Shops in Alaska.

https://www.epa.gov/nscep

The Transportation Environmental Resource Center (TERC)

TERC provides a lot of useful information related to federal and state regulations as well as best practices for disposing of used oil and oil filter crushers.

https://www.tercenter.org/oilusedfilters.php

CalRecycle 

Do you operate your business in California?  The CalGov operates the CalRecycle website and provides lots of useful information on recycling processes, collections centers, and regulations.

https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/usedoil/filters

Still have some questions related to recycling or disposing of used oil filters, send us an email or give us a call!

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Oil filter crushers have many benefits and provide a financial and environmental return-on-investment to their owners. This article provides a detailed list of many of those benefits.

Regulatory Compliance

Regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and many states require that used oil filters must be drained of all free-flowing oil before they are discarded or recycled. The use of oil filter crushers is one of the leading methods to drain filters and prepare them for recycling and ensure regulatory compliance.

Efficiency 

In addition to crushing various methods can be used to drain oil from filters including hot draining, disassembly, and using air pressure to force oil from filters. The problem with most alternatives to crushing is that they are time consuming, hard to scale, and potentially hazardous.  Therefore, in most scenarios, using an oil filter crusher is the most efficient and ultimately the lowest cost method to dispose of used oil filters.

For example, hot-draining is the process puncturing the oil filter while at or near engine operating temperature. This process requires operators to remove the filter from the engine while it is still warm and then to puncture and drain the filter.  The process typically takes a minimum of 12 hours. Hot draining can also expose operators to fire and splash hazards.

Oil filter crushers can quickly crush any number of filters and capture the used oil. Some crushers can be operated in a hands-free manner and only require the loading of the filter and pushing a button. Larger balers can even load, crush, and eject the bales of crushed filters automatically. 

Environmental Benefits

The amount of oil of captured when crushing is significantly greater than other draining methods. Furthermore, crushed filters require less storage space and are easier to sell and recycle. 

According to the Steel Recycling Institute “Recycling all the filters sold annually in the United States would result in the recovery of about 160,000 tons of steel, or enough steel to make 16 new stadiums the size of Atlanta’s Olympic Stadium.”

The recycled steel is used to manufacture a wide variety or products such as cans, some car parts, manhole covers, rebar, and more. 

Re-using oil helps to reduce heavy metal emissions and greenhouse gasses. Crushing filters also reduces the amount of landfill space required and the resultant contamination from leaking oil. 

So in terms of regulatory requirements, savings of time and money, safety, and environmental benefits, oil filter crushers are the best choice for volume handlers of used oil filters

To learn how to select the most appropriate oil filter crusher for your needs, please visit the Oil Filter Crusher Buyer’s Guide.

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Buyers of oil filter crushers can choose from a variety of brands, capacities, sizes, power sources, build quality, and more. All these options can make selecting the most appropriate brand and model challenging.

The following guide was written to help oil filter crusher buyers understand what questions they should be asking and what features they should be considering.

Filter Type

Are you crushing car filters, truck filters, train filters, or something altogether different?  Most oil filter crushers are designed for a specific purpose and have a loading chamber and a crushing force that aligns with that purpose. 

An example would be an oil filter crusher that is designed for crushing locomotive filters. These filters can measure up to 36 inches in length and require a chamber large enough to hold anywhere from a single filter to multiple filters.

Likewise, there are oil filter crushers that are only used to crush automotive oil filters.  Some of these models are small enough that they can be hung on a garage wall. 

Load Capacity

How many oil filters are you crushing daily?  Are you crushing them all at once or are you crushing them individually or in small batches throughout the day?

There are models in the market that are specifically designed to crush one filter at a time.  Other crushers can crush multiple filters in the same or less time than the single unit models.

There’s no reason to purchase a high capacity crusher if you are crushing a handful of filters per day.  However, you will be greatly frustrated if your crusher can’t keep up with your crushing needs.  So you should definitely have an idea of your daily crushing demand, and if it’s high you may need to find a unit that allows for continuous operation.

Crushing Speed

Speed and capacity are related but not exactly the same. Whether you are crushing a single oil filter or large batch you probably don’t want to be waiting too long for the job to finish.  

That brings up an issue with the single unit crushers. If you can only crush one oil filter at a time, the time spent loading and unloading per filter will be greater than models that can crush in batches.

Oil Collection

Where do you plan to collect the waste oil?  Some units have a small holding tank that is self-contained. But, as these tanks have limited capacity you might end up spending a lot of time emptying it into a larger tank if you are processing more than a few filters per day. Other models are easily configured to drain oil into a larger holding tank such as a 55 gallon drum. 

Available Space

Oil filter crushers come in all shapes and sizes. You will want to carefully check the available space in your shop to ensure that your crusher will fit.  Also, make sure the space is adequate for draining the waste oil into a larger collection tank or drum if appropriate.

Electric Hydraulic vs. Pneumatic Hydraulic 

Pneumatic Hydraulic models often market themselves as being a cheaper alternative to Electric Hydraulic models. And, if you are crushing only a few filters per day, that might make sense. 

A downside to Pneumatic Hydraulic models is that they draw down the compressor tank which may interrupt the operation of other shop tools. They also force the compressor to run more often and often fail to deliver a consistent crush.

Electric Hydraulic models have the advantage of being self-contained, IE not requiring an additional power source, and they don’t require additional airlines, regulators, lubricators, and condensation filters. 

With Electric Hydraulic units the machine shuts off when the cycle is complete. With pneumatic models the compressor continues to run in order to restore required pressure. Compressing air can be expensive because crushing requires large amounts of compressed air. Crushing can also reduce compressor life.

Safety

An oil filter crusher should have zero pinch points. You can check to see if the unit meets OSHA safety requirements and has features such as Hands Free Operation and Automatic Shutoff. 

Key Features to Consider

Cycle Time

Cavity Size

Electrical Voltage/Amps

Crushing Force

Overall Height

Overall Width

Overall Depth

Shipping Weight 

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