Hydraulic Oil in the Environment And What Can Be Done About It
One of world’s biggest hydraulic hose manufacturers recently published an article about the amount of hydraulic oil that leaks from equipment on a yearly basis. Would you believe that it’s a whopping 370m litres. That’s a shocking number when you consider even the 1 litre is capable of polluting 1m litres of water.
Where new regulations on waste and environmental impact are more common place should businesses be accountable for all hydraulic fluid leaks.
For example, each year there would be tracking of how much oil is delivered to a site and how much is sent for disposal over the course of the year. Any deficit between these figures is something that a penalty fee would be paid upon. It would be determined that the missing fluid would have seeped into the environment through leakages.
If you’re a large user of hydraulic fluid, then that would of course cause you to sit up. After all our country already has a high level of regulations that create overheads in terms of time, but it’s important for each of us to take responsibility with taking care of the environment. Most of our clients aren’t huge users of oil, but it does still make for an interesting concept that’s worth of discussion.
It’s an unusual but respected practice when users of hydraulic equipment measure how much oil is lost by a machine each year. It can only really be done by measuring what goes in and what comes out. Sounds simple enough, but it’s rarely executed.
Yes, it’s another task to take on, but without being aware of how much hydraulic fluid is being used, it cannot hope to be something that is managed responsibly. It’s not just what the oil is doing to the environment that needs to be considered, it’s the contamination that can enter machines. Contamination can cost a lot of money, not just in removing it, but the damage it can cause if you don’t.
This might not be something that is in the focus of environmentalists currently, but when it does, it’s only right that users take action to prevent fluid from contaminating our environment.