Fentress Will Begin Using Old Oil

A new grant will allow Fentress County officials to process and store used oil, using new equipment.

Solid Waste Director Michael Rick said the grant provides different products including transfer pumps, holding and collection tanks, and signage. Rick said the new tools will save them money as they currently collect used oil at convenience centers and then pay a company to empty the collection tanks and dispose of the oil.

“And we’ll be able to transfer it back to our recycling facility and store it,” Rick said. “And in the winter time we have a used oil burner in our nine thousand square foot recycling facility and we will be able to burn that oil for heat and be able to cut out our gas bill.”

Rick said the county must develop a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan to account for the increase in the amount of used oil they will be working with. He said they also applied for $1,000 of the grant to be used for education outreach including advertisements for radio, newspapers, and social media.

“I think it’s important that people understand why and how to recycle used oil and the impact that it has on our environment by not doing so,” Rick said.

Rick said the spill plan must be written by an engineer hired by the state and costs $5,000 to $6,000.

“What this plan does is in a worst case scenario, there’s a large oil spill, we have a plan on hand of who to contact and what is to be done in that event,” Rick said.

Rick said the Department of Environment and Conservation offered the no-match grant to all county solid waste departments to decrease the amount of used oil being improperly disposed of.

“This is not only taxpayers’ dollars that I’m trying to help save but also our environment,” Rick said. “And those are two very important things to me.”