Motor Oil Regulations

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has a rule that car service and retail shops must take used motor oil and fluids from people for free recycling.

Who must follow the rule:

• Service shops that sell more than 500 gallons of oil each year.
• Retail shops that sell more than 1,000 gallons of new oil each year.

These shops must take these fluids for free:

• Motor oil.
• Transmission fluid.
• Hydraulic fluid.
• Lubricant products refined from crude or synthetic oil.

Shops can:

• Recycle the oil themselves.
• Hire someone to recycle the oil.

They must also:

• Put up a sign saying they take used oil for recycling.
• Give information about who recycles the oil.