Well here’s something that’s related to this topic…one of the guys here is doing an oil change service on a 2015 Prius. He grabs the Toyota filter wrench, spins off the plastic cover and asks “Isn’t there supposed to be a paper filter in here?”
Car is a first time visit to our shop, last oil change (according to the sticker) was done at the dealer.
I suppose one way to reduce the number of filters to dispose is to not use them in the first place.
Seriously, you might want to look at what constitutes “motor oil” before you make a statement that it is biodegradable. Secondly, you probably have filters with anti-drainback valves in them so your efforts to drain them without puncturing the can or relieving the valve are likely leaving most of the oil inside the filter you are throwing in the trash. Finally, your 1% comment pales in the grand scheme when we’re talking about 420 million of them per year. My only hope is that a few people read this thread and consider how much there is to gain by properly disposing of them and taking just a few minutes extra to do so. Frankly, anyone that thinks their used oil filter and contents are magically consumed by microbes is probably beyond reasoning with on this topic…
Where I live, draining them, wrapping them in plastic, and disposing them IS “proper disposal.” Bar and chain oil is mineral oil, too: why not get worked up about that oil slung off the chain? Or all that oil bicycles drip off their chains…those ecological nightmares! 
I am infinitely more concerned with the results of fracking than the results of the relatively miniscule amounts of waste oil discarded in oil filters. I recall the expression “Penny wise and pound foolish” which seems appropriate in this situation.
I took no offense. I was just clarifying that I was referencing old style canister type filters not the modern reincarnations.
Yes I remember several on top filters spin-on and canister. Weren’t the old AMSOIL canister toilet paper filters on top? I didn’t have an ice pick so I used a screwdriver and hammer on my 1991 Jeep Cherokee 4.0L I6.
HUH??? Says who?
The toilet paper filter that I recall was a Franz @sgtrock21. And toilet paper got so soft that it plugged up the galleries in engines so a filter paper was produced and marketed which virtually eliminated any money savings.
A small town electric department near me appointed a new manager who was certain that the toilet paper filters vastly increased engine life and had all department vehicles equipped with them. The paper was delivered in huge cases on a regular basis and I never heard any indication that vehicles were failing due to the filters but I was always suspicious.
How much oil volume do you think is in a spin on filter (with ADBV)? Now multiply that times 400 million. Not very minuscule anymore, is it?
Even if it was a drop, would you like 400 million drops on the ground?
Saying it’s no big deal because there are far bigger sins is something I would expect a politician to say to try and distract from the topic at hand. Of course there are bigger sins. Does that mean this is not something deserving attention in its own right? Especially since the solution is as simple as it is- drop it off at a recycling center?
Well, I certainly can’t speak to the backward nature of where you choose to live. Most municipalities have recycling options.
But you seem to be easily distracted. Do you seriously consider your examples to be anywhere in the same universe of comparison, volume wise? Do you honestly believe there are 400 million chainsaws flinging the same volume of oil per year on the ground? Then there is the bicycle example which is even more ludicrous. I was certainly giving you more credit than you deserve with those type of responses…
It isn’t just used motor oil. There are other contaminates involved.
http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/publications/factsheet-why-we-should-recycle-used-motor-oil
Tester
Your local auto parts takes the oil but not the filter?
Good Greif , just how hard is it to rinse a soup can out .
Empty soup can compared to a used oil filter?
That’s like comparing a water balloon to a grenade!
Tester
But as I said chasing the filters is penny wise and pound foolish. How worthwhile is it for a homeowner to chink and putty around all the window sills if there’s a hole in the roof?
There isn’t much oil in a WELL-DRAINED filter. After 24 hrs of standing above my waste oil drum, nothing drips out, so whatever mass of filter paper, soaked in oil. Given my 4 oil changes/year, yeah, I bet I fling off more bar and chain oil than I lose from my filters. (If we include all the 2-stroke oil I consume, probably an order of magnitude more.)
Again, feel free to adopt the pessimist’s “the glass is 1% empty” attitude; I favor an “the glass is 99% full” optimistic attitude.
Huh? They both represent roughly equal masses of ferrous metal. Both go for about the same amount of money at the scrap yard (i.e. a fraction of a penny).
That’s not true.
I’ve had used oil filters sit in my drain pan for days before they were crushed.
And there was at least an ounce of oil that got squeezed out of the media.
Depending on the size of the filter.
Tester
Fair enough. My truck takes 5.5qts oil; that’s 176oz. So, by not crushing the filter, I still recycle 175/176 of it, or 99.43%.
Y’all are getting downright petty! Should I worry about the cutting oil I use when drilling metal? We’ve already established chains throw oil. Again, this oil is NOT halogenated, so modest quantities of oil will be eaten up by microbes in short order.
Boy oh boy, if this gets your knickers in a twist, I probably oughtn’t tell you how I rustproof my truck for the winter. You might have a terminal fit of apoplexy!
You need to look up your oils.
There’s a difference between used motor oil, and chain saw bar oil, and water craft oil, even two cycle oil!
Used engine oil isn’t biodegradable!
Tester