Have you given any thought to how you dispose of oil or put in place measures to ensure that your disposal methods are ethical? If the answer is ‘no’, it’s time to change your approach. This is because MIWA members may not receive their standard grading or accreditation unless they comply with environmental laws, including the ethical disposal of oil.
Although there are several different service providers who may help in this regard, our recent conversation with Sharlene Morgan from Oilkol has proved particularly enlightening and, as one of our preferred providers, we asked her to tell us a little about Oilkol and the services they provide as well as oil and the environment.
Oilkol is an ISO 14001:2015 certified oil collector and collects used oil throughout South Africa.
Oil is essential for economic viability and growth. At the same time, its supply is limited and the extraction and use thereof are potentially destructive to the environment. Risks are associated with oils’ whole life cycle and managing these risks is of critical importance for the safe and sustainable use thereof.
Oilkol not only has the correct systems and capacity to handle oil in terms of storage, transport and disposal, but it also has several years of experience in this area.
Sharlene advises that any attempt to dispose of oil ethically should involve a number of activities, which may be explained by your Environmental Management System. Your EMS should contain provisions for training your staff to dispose of oil correctly, as well as monitoring used oil from the point of collection to delivery at storage facilities. It is also important to monitor and control all processes related to the storage and transport of the oil, and to continue monitoring product quality and effluent. Finally, your EMS should provide guidance around emergency planning.
Remember your liability does not end when the used oil leaves your premises and should a spill occur during transport en-route to disposal, you by law, remain liable for pollution damage amongst others.
So when you are looking for a specialist company to manage the ethical disposal of your oil these are the questions you need to ask…
Does the company have:
- A Waste Manifest that will stand up in court?
- Protection against liability for environmental damage caused by your oil off your site?
- Safe transport from your site to the end disposer?
- Secure and reputable storage facilities for your oil pending final disposal?
- A record-keeping system that will stand up to scrutiny should you become the subject of an investigation?
- Collectors who care for the environment and who take great care not to damage the environment?
Please contact Oilkol should you require any further information about how to conduct these processes safely and ethically.