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Waste Oil Management

waste-oil-project-smlLGANT with funding through the Product Stewardship for Oil (Department of Environment and Heritage) began with the Northern Territory Waste Oil Project (NTWOP) in September 2005 with a vision to:

  1. Review current waste management options for regional and remote communities
  2. Facilitate and coordinate participation by 5 regions in improved waste oil treatments and/or disposal options within 12 months

LGANT’s strategy was to move towards a comprehensive waste oil management network throughout the Northern Territory.

Through NTWOP it was apparent that a lot of waste oil was stored on pastoral stations throughout the Territory. It was estimated, in consultation with the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA), that the total amounts of stored waste oil on pastoral stations could be as high as 2 million litres.

The Association in partnership with the NTCA developed ‘The Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Used Oil Muster Project’ (NTCUOMP) proposal to assist pastoralists in developing methods by which they could safely dispose of the oil without incurring large financial costs. The project would also ensure environmental stewardship and waste oil re-use.

The NTCUOMP development commenced in May 2006. Roll out of Stage One started in July 2006 with the planning for and consultation with four regional collection points in Victoria River District (VRD), Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs regions.

The objective of the NTCUOMP was to collect as much existing waste oil from pastoral properties and provide waste oil collection facilities strategically placed throughout the Northern Territory.

Outcomes achieved through the NTCUOMP were the construction of:

  • Katherine regional, bunded waste oil facility. Holding capacity of 52,000 litres. This facility services VRD and Katherine regions
  • Bohning Stockyards facility in Alice Springs. Waste Oil Collection Unit capacity 8,000 litres. Services the Alice Springs and Tanami Desert region

With the approval to a variation in the funding deed by LGANT, grant funds allocated for the Tennant Creek and VRD Region were used to construct waste oil facilities with the capacity to hold 1000 litres at the following communities in the Tanami Desert regions of the Northern Territory:

  • Papunya
  • Anmatjere (Ti Tree)
  • Yuendumu
  • Yuelamu
  • Kintore

Promotional materials developed for this project included TV and radio commercials, brochures, facility signage and community training visitation programs to promote the project and improve waste oil management opportunities. Stake holder groups also assisted with program promotion at their various forums. Furthermore, to educate children, the animated characters of “Betty Bin, 4de4”and “Cracked Head’ from the NTWOP Project were used.

Overall, the NTCUOMP project has been quite successful with thousands of litres of waste oil being collected safely and the education of the children has ensured that the attitude towards waste oil will continue to improve into the future.