Cleanaway commits to high-quality re-refined oil

Waste management company Cleanaway has announced that its waste oil refining facility in Wetherill Park, Western Sydney, has achieved Category 1 status under Australia’s Product Stewardship for Oil (PSO) program.

Category 1 processing, as defined under the PSO, generates the highest quality re-refined oil products, resulting in a noncarcinogenic re-refined base oil which can be used as engine lubricant, transformer or hydraulic oil. In achieving Category 1 status, a facility must also comply with health, safety and environmental standards consistent with those which apply to facilities processing similar virgin products.

“Achieving PSO Category 1 status is a very positive step, strengthening our leadership position in the processing of used oil to the highest standards,” said Cleanaway’s CEO and managing director, Vik Bansal.

“At Cleanaway, we’re able to use our national footprint to simplify the collection and processing of used oil. This allows us to optimise the volume of high-quality re-refined oils returned to the market, reducing the requirements for virgin products — which in turn lowers the environmental impact.”

Cleanaway collected ~130 million litres of waste oil, from which almost 100 million litres of re-refined base and fuel oils were manufactured for sale, in FY16. Re-refining of waste oil has a significant positive impact on the environment — creating valuable and high-quality products from waste, as well as reducing the carbon footprint associated with the collection, transport and refining of crude oil to create virgin oil products.

The addition of PSO Category 1 status for Wetherill Park creates further capacity for re-refining, joining Cleanaway’s Rutherford refinery as the second operation to meet this standard. The Rutherford refinery is said to be the only facility in Australia that consistently produces base oils which meet API Group II requirements, with these high-quality products sold to a variety of domestic and international clients.

“Achieving PSO Category 1 status is the result of the exceptional efforts of our site management and engineering teams at Wetherill Park,” said Blake Senior, national hydrocarbons manager for Cleanaway.

“This is a significant achievement and will allow us to supply more high-quality products back into the oil market. We will now focus on our Narangba site in Queensland, where we also aim to achieve PSO Category 1 status, maximising our flexibility and capacity.”