LSU Ag researchers recycle oil containers
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LSU Agricultural Center researchers have figured out a way to combine the plastic containers for motor oil with other plastics and natural fibers to make composite materials that can be used for docks, posts, fences and outdoor furniture.
Recycling motor oil containers is costly because the residual oil has to be removed from the bottles before they can be recycled. In the United States, around 150,000 tons of the containers, with as much as 20 million gallons of residual oil, are disposed of each year. Most plastic recycling programs cannot accept the empty motor oil bottles, which can take 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill.
The AgCenter research, supported by BP Lube and led by Qinglin Wu, has led to novel composites containing residual motor oil, plant fibers, plastics and blending agents.
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