Ukraine has added a layer to its border control of base oil and lubricant imports in an effort to curb the illegal mixing of waste oils with finished products, as well as unlawful burning or dumping in landfills.
The country’s Environmental Inspectorate will monitor import documentation provided by the country’s customs service and will match that volume against those that companies use.
“The inspectorate has to know the information of the imported quantities, because one enterprise may buy, say, 20 tons of oils, and use only five,” Andrey Malovany, head of the Inspectorate, said in a Nov. 11 news release.
Malovany added that the collaboration between the customs service and the inspectorate will curb the unlawful dumping and burning of oils by enterprises.
Observers say that one of the crucial problems in the formation of the waste oils market in Ukraine is that significant volumes of these oils end up in the black market, where they are used as heating fuel or are mixed in other finished products.
According to Kiev-based Pro-Consulting, around 40% of the waste oils generated in Ukraine is used as a fuel for heating or it is mixed with finished lubricants, harming the environment and tainting significant amounts of lubes on the market. A significant volume of the waste oil is dumped in the landfill and waterways.
The most recent previous activity regarding the regulation of waste oils in the country is from 2012, when the government introduced a waste oil utilization tax to encourage collection of used oil. According to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, about 400,000 tons of waste oils are generated in Ukraine every year, and this number is growing by 5%-10% per year,
No large-scale waste oil processing and recycling capacity or rerefinery has opened since the code was enforced in mid-2013. Ukraine lacks functional base oil production capacity, and imports most of its base oil.
Russia supplies most of the imported base oil in Ukraine.