Abstract: A cleaning apparatus for removing oily waste from articles which includes two tanks located in proximity, preferably in side-by-side relationship, to one another. The upper edge of one end of these tanks is provided with an overflow that causes the light surface fraction of the liquid in the cleaning tank to flow out of the cleaning tank and onto the surface of the liquid in the separating tank. The bottom edge of the opposite end of the separating tank is provided with an outlet through which the dense bottom fraction of the liquid in the separating tank may be withdrawn and pumped back into the cleaning tank. The effect of this top/bottom relationship between outlets and inlets is to establish a density gradient which favors the migration of oily waste from the cleaning tank to the separating tank.