Filters Seek Recycling Niche

New scrap source still needs recycling infrastructure.

Scrap steel is derived from innumerable sources, ranging from demolished bridges and buildings to discarded washers and dryers to obsolete wire and cable.

But there are less conventional pools of materials that processors have only recently begun tapping into as a consistent source of recyclable material. Among these are the estimated 400 million oil filters produced every year in the United States for passenger cars and light trucks.

An estimated 80 percent to 90 percent of all used oil filters are currently sent to landfills at the end of their useful lives, according to the automotive division of AlliedSignal Inc., Rumford, R.I. At least 20 million used oil filters were processed and recycled into new steel products in 1993, resulting in recovery of 8,500 tons of steel and 225,000 gallons of used motor oil. Recycling all oil filters generated in 1994 would result in the recovery of an estimated 161,500 tons of steel and 17.8 millon gallons of used oil, says AlliedSignal.

"Oil filter recycling is kind of in its infancy," according to Tim Warren, manager of environmental programs at AlliedSignal. "We’re going through a number of stages of two steps forward one step back as we learn."

The data that Warren has been able to assemble indicates that there are about 20 to 25 steel mills and foundries that either have policies for accepting oil filters, or have tested oil filters in the past two years in various forms. The problems, at least in these early stages, stem from inconsistencies between what different processing facilities are willing to accept.

"Some of these facilities will take what are called hockey pucks, which are the crushed filters from the quick-lube type operations," says Warren, a former recycling director for the state of Illinois. "There are a lot of variabilities in those kinds of products. There are companies out there that are disassembling filters, there are companies that are shredding filters, there are companies cubing filters into miniature bales similar in density to a steel bale, and there are companies out there that are burning filters."

Ideally, thesed discarded filters represent feedstock for the scrap recycling industry. In 1994, at least 1,250 tons of filter scrap are being recycled monthly into steel and iron products, according to AlliedSignal data. This means about 2.5 million filters per month are being domestically recycled.

At least a dozen steel mills or foundries across the United States purchase processed used oil filter scrap directly from recyclers or through scrap dealers, says AlliedSignal. Additional large quantities of processed oil filters are supplied to domestic or export markets as mixed ferrous scrap.

"The steel mills that are using these vary across the spectrum," says Warren. "Mostly you have electric arc minimills. Some companies have tried and have had horrendously bad experiences. What I have found is that the steel mills have no real national acceptance standards for how these things are going to be processed, or whether they need to go directly from a recycler to a steel mill, or go through the more accepted channels of the scrap industry. That’s an evolution that we’re trying to develop."

Industry-wide standards on used oil filter recycling would be a giant leap in this evolution. However, a consensus among the industry is not yet clear.

Meanwhile, Warren is working on assembling a national recycling program within AlliedSignal. "We’re trying to take a leadership role in putting together a recycling program."

In addition to the scrap still in a used oil filter, recyclable used oil is also abundant. When removed from a passenger car, an undrained oil filter can contain from one pint to a full quart of used oil, depending upon the size of the filter, among other factors, according to estimnates from AlliedSignal. Many heavy-duty filters contain several quarts of used oil. Even after draining, a filter will contain several ounces of used oil that remain in the filtration media and internal components until properly processed.

Used oil from filters is recycled through re-refining, blending or other methods of lubricants, fuel oils and chemical feedstocks, according to AlliedSignal's market research.

Until some industry-wide standards can be developed, Warren continues to lead AlliedSignal’s campaign to develop a recycling infrastructure for used oil filters -- an ambitious task considering the range of customers who purchase and consume oil filters, as well as the complexity of environmental and jurisdictional issues that come into play.

"We’re trying to be more proactive about getting our customers which range everywhere from the quick-lubes to the retailers who sell to the DIYer," he says. "We’re trying to work with the states to get recycling programs in place, and trying to encourage our customers to do this, and also trying to link up profressional recycling companies that do the collection and processing of filters with our customers.

"We’re trying to develop this whole infrastructure of collection and processing, and looking at different ways to collect filters and how to improve the economics of collection and different processing technologies."

Ultimately, however, Warren is confident that the supply of filters is sufficient to develop an infrastructure.

"It’s obviously developed most acutely in those states that have passed landfill bans or other regulations," he says. "There are some states that are starting to move forward with programs fairly actively, and some of those are voluntary programs. South Carolina, for example, has developed a statewide public collection program for oil, and they’re adding filters to that program statewide. They’re trying to work with the steel mills as an end market that will accept that type of product. So we generate in this industry somewhere in the range of 20 million oil filters a year. We’re probably recycling about 10 percent in two-and-a-half years time. We’re making some strides, but we have a long ways to go."