They do that here, too. It's not about the yard trying to be green it's about the regulations handed to them. They'd rather loose a part like an oil pan or a trans pan, than for it to have any fluids that may leak and result in a huge fine for letting fluids seep into the ground. Cheaper that way.
I have a buddy who owns a scrapyard. Not a salvage yard, but a scrapyard. He's not allowed to sell parts under his license.
The new regs they were hitting him with damn near put him out of business before his health did.
All oils and fluids have to be kept in state approved containers, above ground. If he wanted to store underground he'd have to jump through the same hoops as a gas station to put in new tanks.
All state approved containers have to be labeled and fluids can't be mixed. Engine oil, gear oil, trans fluid, coolant all the have to be separated. Funny, but as a shop owner I could roll the oil drop bucket over under a car and drain a rear or trans into the same container I would drop oil from an engine in.
All prep work has to be done on a concrete pad at least six inches thick and twice the size of any vehicles he works on to be able to control spills before they get to the ground. He has a small garage at his yard he does his prep work in, but it's not big enough, he needs one bigger.
No more than a 100 tires on site at any time. DEC nailed him with 2500 tires. It cost him $4 bucks a pop to get rid of them.
Oh, and no more speedy dry unless it's placed in a proper container for disposal. If he doesn't have the proper state approved container he has to use mats. As a shop owner, I could spill all day long, go through a 50# of kitty litter and throw it right in the trash.
