The Product Stewardship for Oil Program was introduced in 2001 by the Australian Government to provide incentives to increase uptake and appropriate recycling and use of used oil. Transitional Assistance Fund was established to support the aims of the Product Stewardship for Oil program.

Objectives of the Transitional Assistance Fund are to:

• Ensure a sustainable used oil recycling industry;
  
• Accelerate the uptake of used oil in urban and rural Australia
  
• Facilitate the transition of the industry and the community in to the product stewardship arrangements; and
  
• To the extent possible, address special difficulties that remote Australia has in the recovery and management of used oil for appropriate recycling.

The Project in the Territory

The Northern Territory Waste Oil Project is funded through the Transitional Assistance Fund and aims to establish and implement best strategy for collection, storage and return of waste oil to treatment or disposal facilities, along with community education and awareness programs. This will be achievable with the cooperation and input of NT Councils and other representative and/or regional organisations.

Five regional areas have been identified for inclusion in this project, and all have advised LGANT of their in-principle support for this proposal.

The regional areas are:

• Katherine Region (via Katherine Town Council and Nyirranggulung Mardrulk Ngadbere Regional Council)
  
• Hermannsburg (via Ntaria Council and CAT)
  
• Tiwi Islands (via Tiwi Island Local Government – TILG)
  
• Batchelor and Adelaide River (via Coomalie Community Government Council)
  
• Borroloola (via Borroloola Community Government Council)

Finalisation of the Project

The Waste Oil Project (WOP) has been innovative and succesful in both implimenting effective waste oil management in communities across the Territory and taking communtiy promotion and education to new heights utilising animation programs and getting on the ground with the people who count.

From centrifuge cleaning to the unique and effective Waste Oil Collection Sheds designed and constructed in the Territory, the WOP has covered new Territory and enabled resources to be placed in the most effective areas to help protect the environmmnet and envigour the waste oil collection industry.