Service Station’s Waste Oil Problem, Encinitas, California

The Problem: A buried tank leaked waste oil under the service station’s foundation.

Our Solution: We hired an excavator with a swivel bucket to dig sideways to remove the waste oil-impacted soil from under the building. The waste oil-waste was expensive to dispose, because it was a hazardous waste. The disposal delay caused the agency to stall case closure. The client was a major oil company and wanted us to solve their problem with no budget for off-site disposal of this hazardous waste.

We took a calculated risk. We used a double hopper concrete truck to mix two parts of the waste oil soil with one part chicken manure to yield a homogenous blend in the output soil. The output soil was leveled to a shallow height and hydrated with a water system. The manure added organic food. The remixing enabled oxygen release. These factors enabled indigenous bio-activity to eat the waste oil until it was reduced to harmless by products. We planted sensors to monitor the progress. When it looked like the former waste-oil pile was cleaned up, several soil samples were tested by a lab to legally prove cleanup. The oil company client paid for the cheaper off-site disposal of the non-hazardous waste.

The Benefit: Case closure enabled financial and liability relief to the major oil company owner. Our waste oil cleanup strategy decreased cleanup costs and shorten the time to close the case.