Wisconsin landfills ban oil filters and

WDNR – Starting January 1, 2011 it will be illegal in Wisconsin for anyone to dispose of automotive engine oil filters or oil absorbent materials, including granular absorbents, cloth absorbents, and paper towels in landfills.

Wisconsin Act 86 is intended to keep used oil filters and absorbents out of Wisconsin landfills. Each year, Wisconsinites throw away an estimated 187,000 gallons of oil in used oil filters and 1.6 million gallons of oil in oil absorbents. Oil is a valuable, reusable material. By recycling filters and absorbent materials, used oil can be extracted and reused. Filters also contain steel components that can be recycled. Approximately nine million filters currently enter the landfill and recycling these will save over 4.5 million pounds of steel for reuse. 

A new media kit describing what materials are banned, and how to recycle these materials, is now available on the Department of Natural Resources website.