The lubricant industry bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of 2020, as demand recovered to pre-outbreak levels after sagging as much as 30% to 50% during March and April, but the crisis still depressed the industry’s growth outlook, according to Kline & Co. consultancy.

Serbia consumed 54,000 tons of finished lubricants in 2019, but the country recycles only 1.5% of that quantity back into base stocks, and it has a long way to go to meet the European Union targets for waste oil collection and rerefining, an industry event heard last week.

Castrol recently announced a partnership with packaging technology company Pulpex – which has developed a technology that forms bottles from wood pulp – to design paper containers for use with Castrol’s lubricants.