Fuel-oil blenders save time, money, and lives: environmental professionals at the Army Engineer School found a way reduce oil disposal problems in Iraq by using commercial off-the-shelf equipment.

Used oil is a major waste stream for a deployed army. The Army generates an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of used oil per week in Iraq. Although contracts that provide for its disposal are in place, insurgents make the already difficult job dangerous. Convoys are frequent targets of enemy attacks, so commanders have reduced or stopped completely the transport of waste such as used oil. The resulting stockpiling of used oil presents a significant problem.

In the Army, used oil is handled as many as eight times before its ultimate disposal, which generates an unacceptable drain of available time and money. How can the Army eliminate this costly waste stream? That …