At AVISTA OIL, we have been working intensively with the new document ‘Lubricants & Greases: End of Life – Sustainable Best Practices’ (2024) from ATIEL and UEIL. Many of the best practices described in it reflect our own actions. We recently provided an introduction to the document. In the coming weeks, we will present further chapters of the document and show how we successfully put these topics into practice at AVISTA OIL. 🌱
What is the chapter on waste hierarchy & 10R framework in the EoL document about?
The chapter on waste hierarchy & 10R framework in the EoL document specifies five stages in accordance with the EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC):
1. Prevention
2. Preparation for reuse
3. Recycling / regeneration
4. Other recovery (e.g. as fuel)
5. Disposal (e.g. landfill, incineration)
In addition, the so-called 10R framework is introduced, which supplements the familiar principles of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ with further fields of action such as ‘repair’, ‘refurbish’, “remanufacture” and ‘repurpose’. The aim is to extend the recycling cycle as much as possible and consistently avoid resource losses.
In the case of lubricants, this means that high-performance products should remain in use for as long as possible and, once they have reached the end of their useful life, they should be regenerated or re-refined instead of incinerated – in order to minimise environmental impact and maximise resource utilisation.
How does AVISTA OIL implement these principles in practice?
1. Prevention – extending service life
We develop lubricants that are designed for longevity – with state-of-the-art additive packages and maximum resilience. Thanks to their longevity, our products contribute to waste prevention – the highest level in the hierarchy.
2. Preparation for reuse
In line with our holistic approach to recycling waste oil, the collection of oil-containing waste plays an extremely important role in our value creation cycle. We provide innovative and safe solutions for disposal and collection. Our international network ensures professional and reliable waste oil collection in Europe and the USA. More than 300 of our own collection vehicles and 40 tankers in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, Czechia and the USA ensure that waste oil is reused in a sustainable manner.
Our services range from comprehensive disposal concepts to suitable containers for oil-containing waste. In addition, we offer our customers an app-controlled tank monitoring system that allows them to outsource tank filling and disposal almost entirely to AVISTA OIL. This avoids unnecessary trips and enables increased efficiency, which is not only good for our customers but also for the environment.
3. Recycling/regeneration – waste oil becomes a new raw material
The regeneration of waste oil is at the heart of our business model. Our specially developed technology allows us to process waste oil in a multi-stage process:
- Removal of water, additive residues and impurities
- Separation of solid particles and sludge
- Molecular separation and purification
The result is our re-refined base oil KERNSOLVAT®, which surpasses primary refined base oils in terms of quality and performance – with the decisive advantage that it is produced in a resource-saving and CO₂-reduced manner.
4. Recycling & 5. Disposal – only as a last resort
At AVISTA OIL, we consider thermal recycling, for example as a secondary fuel, to be only a last resort. This is because it inevitably leads to a ‘carbon leak’ – i.e. the irretrievable loss of the material. Our focus is on material recycling. Only when waste oil can no longer be regenerated (e.g. due to mixing, contamination or extreme ageing) is it recycled externally as an energy source – in accordance with legal requirements, of course.
Conclusion
What the ATIEL/UEIL document describes as a waste hierarchy is standard practice at AVISTA OIL: we work throughout the entire product life cycle to make lubricants usable for longer, to re-refine used oils to a high standard and to avoid material losses. Our mission is to make the end of life of lubricants the beginning of a new cycle – in line with the 10R strategy.
Click here for the document.
Our next article will focus on the topic of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).