Legislation Updates
Waste oil collected in the UK can normally be recovered via one of three technical processes:
- Re-refining back to a base oil. This material would normally be deemed to have been taken out of the waste stream and can be traded as a product. This is the preferred recovery option under the Waste Oil Directive and the latest review of the Waste Framework Directive.
- Recovery as a recycled fuel oil (RFO). A substitute for residual fuel oils, still classed as hazardous waste and can only be used in WID compliant or exempt installations.
- Recovery as a processed fuel oil (PFO). A substitute for residual fuel oil which can be sold as it if were a product fuel oil provided it is compliant with the current specification as outlined in the Quality Protocol.
Eco-Oil has been working with industry and the Environment Agency, in partnership with WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), on the development of the Quality Protocol for processed fuel oil.
A Quality Protocol is a formalised quality control procedure and it outlines how producers can demonstrate when a waste becomes a recovered resource that can be marketed as a product in its own right.
This Quality Protocol provides clarity to industry about how to recycle waste lubricating oil and aims to help increase the amount of oil which is fully recycled, therefore creating benefits for business and the environment.
This Quality Protocol only applies in England and Wales.
