MBC Recognized as Sustainability Leader

Mark’s Barrel Company (MBC) is a model of sustainability for the drum industry and businesses throughout the Intermountain region. MBC reconditions containers for reuse for businesses throughout Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, and California. Our primary customers are in the petroleum and chemical industries respectively.

In a 2008 report, the EPA estimated the quantity of used oil generated annually at 1.35 billion gallons (with a “B”) with 785 million gallons used as fuel, 161 million gallons re-refined and up to 200 million gallons going to landfills or illegally dumped. Some estimate nearly 50% of used oil goes to industrial burning for energy, 20 percent to re-refining into base lubricants and another 15% to on-site heating. Used oil is a big business, especially as the price of crude oil continues to grow. Even though used oil is dirty and exhausted of lubricity, a gallon contains 140,000 BTUs of energy, approximately the same heating value of a new gallon of oil.

MBC accumulates approximately 1500-2000 gallons of oil per month. While oil is not considered a hazardous material during transport, there remains a serious liability to the generator. The business that generates the used oil is responsible and liable for he oil until it is properly disposed, which could literally take years if the oil is held in a storage facility. We are a small generator and like many others, we cannot consume all we generate. MBC sells the excess to processors and environmental service providers, otherwise, we burn oil to heat tanks of water used for cleaning and heat for the buildings.

While burning oil for heating and energy may seem onerous to some environmentalists, it has less universal emissions and conversationalist benefits than newly refined or re-refined lacks. At MBC we consider on-site burning as part of our overall effort to clean up the planet and lower energy costs.