UOMA Canada is seeking to evaluate oil use and loss for each province. Using Manitoba’s Fleet Profile, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) was engaged to determine how much oil is effectively “lost-in-service” and how much is available for collection. Extensive primary research was undertaken for the project through targeted interviews with industry participants, stakeholders and subject matter experts.
The portions of the unrecovered volume are estimated to be in the following categories:
- Road transportation (trucking) 37.8%
- Light automotive 29.6%
- Agriculture and commercial off-road 17.6%
- Industrial 12.1%
- Marine, recreation, and other 2.9%
Significant Sources of Used Oil Loss
- Breakage and Accidents: In cases where parts fail and oil leaks out into the environment or in the case of accidents or collisions, any oil lost is naturally unrecoverable.
- Maintenance Waste, Other Loss: This includes used oil leaks/spills at oil change locations or driveways, remains behind in containers, on shop floors, during transfer, and throughout a multitude of small points of loss that cumulatively add up.
- Top-Ups: Engine, Transmission, Other: Top-ups inherently fill up volume that was lost from machinery or engines almost exclusively into the environment through burning, leakage, small-scale parts failures, or normal wear and tear.
- Change in Fleet and Stock: The floating volume of oil in Canada resulting from increases to fleet size and the stock of relevant machinery. When a fleet increases in size, the floating volume of oil currently being actively used increases and it will take time for this now increased volume to reach the end of its life (in that initial use case) and become recoverable.
- Exported in Working Vehicles and End-of-Life Vehicles: For used vehicles that are exported out of Canada and predominantly into the US, the volume of oil within these vehicles is essentially entirely lost and uncollectable. The flow of used vehicles into Canada has been comparatively small, and not nearly enough
to offset the volume of vehicles heading south and overseas. Used vehicles at the end of their life, those intended for parts or scrap, can also be exported to the US and more commonly South America and elsewhere. This could be done for parts, repair, pure scrap and in many cases the oil contained therein is shipped with them assuming it was not lost in an accident. - Lost in Scrap Processing: If vehicles are not simply abandoned or exported, they end up being processed by a vehicle recycler or a scrapyard. A vehicle recycler, following industry best-practices and all relevant regulation, is likely to be quite thorough in draining remaining fluids in vehicles as a part of the broader process of recycling these vehicles. Some of this fluid does generally remain within the vehicles regardless due to time and cost constraints. Even with very diligent operators, there will still be oil remaining in the products after being recycled, with even more remaining behind in less diligent scenarios.
- Remaining in Retired Engines or Equipment: These can be vehicles that break down in remote areas, abandoned towns/properties, or simply vehicles that are not worth transporting. This is especially common in more remote and northern communities.
- Reporting of OEM Sales: The volumes of oil included in new vehicles are calculated based on a fixed formula. These volumes may not be accurately captured and the background formulas may need to be updated to reflect the recent shifts in size and structure of the Canadian vehicle fleet.
Study findings
After evaluating all loss sources, DAC concluded
- 31.4% of all oil is lost in service in Manitoba
- 68.6% is realistically recoverable
Manitoba’s Expanding Used Oil Collection Program
Over the last 4 years, Manitoba has significantly expanded its outreach in attempts to collect more used oil in the province, specifically:
Social Media Advertising
Facebook, Google and YouTube videos are all being heavily utilized to target specific audiences that have interests in used oil recycling.
Used Oil Burners
We have expanded our collections by more than 1,000,000 litres each year (an increase of 5-8% in collections annually) by registering small used oil burners around the province, increasing our total from 20 to 130 used oil burners with more coming on board each year. A National study is also being conducted in 2026 to determine the quantity of used oil being burned in these small burners (under 500,000 BTUs).
Return Incentives
We increased our Return Incentives Rates for oil by an average of 7% in 2022 and then another 7% in 2025.
Northern Community Focus
We are also contacting dozens of northern remote communities by phone (and later by email) in order for us to explain our financial aid package for establishing both a used oil collection facility and a used oil burner in each respective community.