Area company sets free recycling

In time for Oil Recycling Day, a Hazleton company will be accepting used oil, antifreeze and car batteries at no charge next week.

Hazleton Oil & Environmental Inc. will be giving out a free long-stemmed funnel to the first 200 people who bring in any of the three items between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Oct. 2 at the firm’s 300 Tamaqua St. facility. The site is on state Route 309 between Hazleton and McAdoo.

While the company accepts used oil and antifreeze for free all the time, it usually charges $1 per pound for batteries, marketing coordinator Kristy Heiland said.

“We find that people like to dump those along with their tires along the road,” she said. “We do it because we don’t want residents to dump their waste oil down their drain, in their yard, in the back of their property. We’d rather they bring it to us so that we can recycle it for them.”

The company then reprocesses the waste fluids and resells them to companies who produce antifreeze and to others who either burn the oil for heat or use it in asphalt, she said. “The company has a fairly good market for this oil,” she said.

“We find that if we have it two times a year, we get a better response,” Heiland said. During past events, the company has collected more than 500 gallons of waste liquids during the week.