A study released this week at the first joint Annual General Meeting of the four Canadian provincial used oil recycling associations has concluded the industry-led stewardship program is a world leader.
Conducted by BearingPoint LP, the study notes that the Used Oil Management Association model is a leader in program design, collection and compensation scheme compared to 14 other global used oil management programs. The study also touts that the made-in-western Canada model is a world leader in maximizing used oil collection rates (more than 75 percent) and re-refining rates (30 percent).
The provincial associations operating under this successful industry-led stewardship model are the following: the British Columbia Used Oil Management Association; Alberta Used Oil Management Association; Saskatchewan Association for Resource Recovery Corp.; and Manitoba Association for Resource Recovery Corp.
The program facilitates the collection of used oil, used oil filters and used plastic oil containers (up to 30 liters in size) for recycling.
The study included interviews with almost 400 program stakeholders, over 2000 public surveys and benchmarking the UOMA programs against 14 leading European and North American programs. It was conducted throughout October and November 2004.
"The good news is the stakeholder survey results are very positive, with the four programs comparing very favorably to all other programs benchmarked," said Charlie Meredith, manager, BearingPoint. "As well, the public survey shows that recycling attitudes and behaviors are constantly changing for the better."