My uncle Lerm did this back in the day. The oil eventually seeped into his well water and contaminated his water supply. He grew sickly and more turtle-like in appearance. Didn’t stop his career though, he just changed his name. You might have actually heard of him, Mitch Mc something
JoeWhy2 on
Is this from their How To Do it Encyclopedia? I used to have the whole set. One day I noticed I had some bugs crawling around on one of my houseplants and decided to see what the “Encyclopedia” might recommend. They recommended dipping the whole plant in a bucket of DDT. 🤣
Gerry1of1 on
My dad poured the used oil all around the house. It killed weeds and repelled vermin.
ConceptualWeeb on
Maybe put a disclaimer for the dumbasses who would still take this as something good to do.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD DO WITH ANY OIL.
steelfork on
People used to pour oil on any standing water to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs.
svande8952 on
Are we posting this once a week now?
MaxxT22 on
Back in 1989 I was managing a c-store in Brooklyn Park during a huge drought. All the grass on the boulevard was dead but full of ugly weeds so the company decided to cover it with fabric and rock. My job was to kill all the weeds before the landscapers arrived. When my district manager learned I was writing off gallons of weed killer he flipped out and demanded I use gasoline instead. Called me out as stupid and naive.
DUAL-DISC-FUSIONS on
This is also how you grow your own dinosaur 🦖
awhitedoveisapigeon on
Just burn it. Easier and cheaper than a post hole digger and gravel.
fr500c on
Simpler times, darker aquifers
ShortFatStupid666 on
The oil came from the ground…they are just returning it back to it’s natural habitat 😉
GarlicAncient on
Imagine thinking getting rid of oil is a problem when the accepted solution to the “problem” at the time was to dump the oil in your yard.
Relax_Dude_ on
I’m 36 and as far back as I could remember my dad used to put used oil in milk jugs and leave them next to the trash bins outside. I just looked it up, we were in a city where the city would take it from the curbside and dispose of it.
DogeAteMyHomework on
While on a late-70s family vacation, my Dad decided to change the oil on our Chevrolet Caprice Classic wagon. I can still picture him just letting it drain the ground. I also remember giving him a pretty hard time about it, the first time I really challenged him on a decision. I guess hearing that from a 10-year old really had an impact on him, because he went on to fight successfully for many environmental causes.
zergling424 on
Legit question: How is tiny amount of oil in soil able to create such widespread contamination and make an area a tiny wasteland so effectively?
AmishSloth84 on
I like to drink mine.
ShangLoongMa on
I used to live in rural Montana. Everyone who changes their own oil just pours it on the nearest unpaved road, usually in a line.
pimpbot666 on
OMG, I heard Bill Wattenberg talk about dumping oil in the ground on his ‘science based’ radio show back in the mid 90s. He said ‘just return it back to the ground where it came from.’ That’s when I stopped listening to his outdated ass.
Lilstubbin on
Look, every time I throw a bag of trash in the ocean, its always gone by the time I come back with another.
Fly_U2_the_sunset on
Yep had one at the outside corner of the garage with a metal foot-flip lid. Totally upper white trash, suburban neighborhood! Used it throughout the 60s and 70’s…. ☹️
leebeckett on
My dad used to paint the fence panels with his old engine oil
CaseFace5 on
Brought to you by the time period where they built disposable razor discard slots into medicine cabinets that just dropped the razors into your wall. Outta sight outta mind.
Hiphopapocalyptic on
Entrance hidden by rocks and pebble
randoperson42 on
This was in old boy scout manuals, too.
Able-Sheepherder-154 on
My 61M dad used to pour the used oil around the garage foundation to keep weeds from growing there. It worked but I bet that ground is still contaminated 50yrs later.
TheFleebus on
In the late 80s, when I was 8 or 9 years old, my friend and I found some dark oil seeping from the side of a small creek that ran behind his house. We immediately thought of ol’ Jed Clampett. We ran into his house screaming that we were gonna be millionaires! When his Dad heard of our discovery he asked who we had told and then very sheepishly admitted to dumping several gallons of used motor oil in the creek.
I could tell he felt like an absolute asshole for having to explain why he’d dumped toxic waste in the creek we played in every day. His wife was beyond pissed.
PantherkittySoftware on
This is actually a problem along the western Everglades edge of Miami. Decades ago, the area was unambiguously “out in the middle of nowhere”, but was accessible enough (thanks to graded dirt roads built next to drainage canals) to make it easy for nearby residents to go out on weekends with dirt bikes, old pickup trucks & Jeeps, and (later) ATCs to go ride around with literal reckless abandon.
More than occasionally, stuff would break down in places where it would cost more money to retrieve the broken & disabled vehicle than it was worth, and people would just abandon it. Stir, rinse, and repeat for decades. Moreover, when the areas were eventually developed into suburbia, builders often just dug a deeper hole, bulldozed any debris found on site into it, and covered it.
Fast forward a few more years to the present: a homeowner digs a well for their sprinklers, and finds actionable contamination in the groundwater. Not necessarily amounts that are actually *dangerous*… but enough that if the EPA found out about it, they’d probably require tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cleanup & mitigation.
Harvest827 on
Big Oil Recycling hates this one simple trick.
Rocklobster92 on
Doesn’t the ground filter it out with layers of sand and whatnot? Why is this bad?
Lilyispretty08 on
It would probably work well as a weed killer
cik3nn3th on
“Trust the science”
Aiku on
This is my all-time favorite. I think this was Popular Mechanis, though.
Oil breaks down naturally in case anyone didn’t see this the 100 times it was posted earlier. It’s not great to dump it into the garden soil but unlike plastic , it’s natural and will not persist.
Stopper33 on
My grandfather had a gravel driveway on their farm. There was a spot stained black from all the oil changes. My dad did it for at least the first ten or fifteen years of my life. So I’d say oil impregnated that spot for at least 30-40 years
monsterZERO on
Right back to Mother Earth, Gaia, from whence it came!
Ready-Piano-271 on
Work’s every time
GrooveDigger47 on
boomers were fucking dumb as fuck.
rigorcorvus on
My dad told me in the 70s they would just dig a hole in the yard and drive the car over it
nrith on
We learned to do this at scout camp—in the 80s.
bobtrack22 on
Open up a can of motor oil, and pour it in your gravel hole til it’s dry. And that’s the bottom line, because Trump’s EPA SAID SO!
46 Comments
My uncle Lerm did this back in the day. The oil eventually seeped into his well water and contaminated his water supply. He grew sickly and more turtle-like in appearance. Didn’t stop his career though, he just changed his name. You might have actually heard of him, Mitch Mc something
Is this from their How To Do it Encyclopedia? I used to have the whole set. One day I noticed I had some bugs crawling around on one of my houseplants and decided to see what the “Encyclopedia” might recommend. They recommended dipping the whole plant in a bucket of DDT. 🤣
My dad poured the used oil all around the house. It killed weeds and repelled vermin.
Maybe put a disclaimer for the dumbasses who would still take this as something good to do.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD DO WITH ANY OIL.
People used to pour oil on any standing water to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs.
Are we posting this once a week now?
Back in 1989 I was managing a c-store in Brooklyn Park during a huge drought. All the grass on the boulevard was dead but full of ugly weeds so the company decided to cover it with fabric and rock. My job was to kill all the weeds before the landscapers arrived. When my district manager learned I was writing off gallons of weed killer he flipped out and demanded I use gasoline instead. Called me out as stupid and naive.
This is also how you grow your own dinosaur 🦖
Just burn it. Easier and cheaper than a post hole digger and gravel.
Simpler times, darker aquifers
The oil came from the ground…they are just returning it back to it’s natural habitat 😉
Imagine thinking getting rid of oil is a problem when the accepted solution to the “problem” at the time was to dump the oil in your yard.
I’m 36 and as far back as I could remember my dad used to put used oil in milk jugs and leave them next to the trash bins outside. I just looked it up, we were in a city where the city would take it from the curbside and dispose of it.
While on a late-70s family vacation, my Dad decided to change the oil on our Chevrolet Caprice Classic wagon. I can still picture him just letting it drain the ground. I also remember giving him a pretty hard time about it, the first time I really challenged him on a decision. I guess hearing that from a 10-year old really had an impact on him, because he went on to fight successfully for many environmental causes.
Legit question: How is tiny amount of oil in soil able to create such widespread contamination and make an area a tiny wasteland so effectively?
I like to drink mine.
I used to live in rural Montana. Everyone who changes their own oil just pours it on the nearest unpaved road, usually in a line.
OMG, I heard Bill Wattenberg talk about dumping oil in the ground on his ‘science based’ radio show back in the mid 90s. He said ‘just return it back to the ground where it came from.’ That’s when I stopped listening to his outdated ass.
Look, every time I throw a bag of trash in the ocean, its always gone by the time I come back with another.
Yep had one at the outside corner of the garage with a metal foot-flip lid. Totally upper white trash, suburban neighborhood! Used it throughout the 60s and 70’s…. ☹️
My dad used to paint the fence panels with his old engine oil
Brought to you by the time period where they built disposable razor discard slots into medicine cabinets that just dropped the razors into your wall. Outta sight outta mind.
Entrance hidden by rocks and pebble
This was in old boy scout manuals, too.
My 61M dad used to pour the used oil around the garage foundation to keep weeds from growing there. It worked but I bet that ground is still contaminated 50yrs later.
In the late 80s, when I was 8 or 9 years old, my friend and I found some dark oil seeping from the side of a small creek that ran behind his house. We immediately thought of ol’ Jed Clampett. We ran into his house screaming that we were gonna be millionaires! When his Dad heard of our discovery he asked who we had told and then very sheepishly admitted to dumping several gallons of used motor oil in the creek.
I could tell he felt like an absolute asshole for having to explain why he’d dumped toxic waste in the creek we played in every day. His wife was beyond pissed.
This is actually a problem along the western Everglades edge of Miami. Decades ago, the area was unambiguously “out in the middle of nowhere”, but was accessible enough (thanks to graded dirt roads built next to drainage canals) to make it easy for nearby residents to go out on weekends with dirt bikes, old pickup trucks & Jeeps, and (later) ATCs to go ride around with literal reckless abandon.
More than occasionally, stuff would break down in places where it would cost more money to retrieve the broken & disabled vehicle than it was worth, and people would just abandon it. Stir, rinse, and repeat for decades. Moreover, when the areas were eventually developed into suburbia, builders often just dug a deeper hole, bulldozed any debris found on site into it, and covered it.
Fast forward a few more years to the present: a homeowner digs a well for their sprinklers, and finds actionable contamination in the groundwater. Not necessarily amounts that are actually *dangerous*… but enough that if the EPA found out about it, they’d probably require tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cleanup & mitigation.
Big Oil Recycling hates this one simple trick.
Doesn’t the ground filter it out with layers of sand and whatnot? Why is this bad?
It would probably work well as a weed killer
“Trust the science”
This is my all-time favorite. I think this was Popular Mechanis, though.
https://preview.redd.it/hh2czjlz2sxf1.jpeg?width=668&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5b75c0aff08547625c2790cdac7876dfb5abee5
Shit, I just pop over to the neighbor’s field and dump it there. No one has ever complained!
I want to add a /s to the end, but I’ve actually done this.. >.>
I hope they don’t have a well close by
Found it. https://youtu.be/tug_E9YKye0?si=ZikKLfuqL8InYj32. 2:26 is when you see the lab guy sanding the asbestos panel.
This made no sense then. This makes no sense now.
Oil breaks down naturally in case anyone didn’t see this the 100 times it was posted earlier. It’s not great to dump it into the garden soil but unlike plastic , it’s natural and will not persist.
My grandfather had a gravel driveway on their farm. There was a spot stained black from all the oil changes. My dad did it for at least the first ten or fifteen years of my life. So I’d say oil impregnated that spot for at least 30-40 years
Right back to Mother Earth, Gaia, from whence it came!
Work’s every time
boomers were fucking dumb as fuck.
My dad told me in the 70s they would just dig a hole in the yard and drive the car over it
We learned to do this at scout camp—in the 80s.
Open up a can of motor oil, and pour it in your gravel hole til it’s dry. And that’s the bottom line, because Trump’s EPA SAID SO!
Drill Baby Drill !
I found it’s faster to just use the storm drain.