For most of the last decade, rerefined base oil has lived a strange double life. It has been cheaper than virgin base oil, chemically comparable to it and demonstrably better for the planet than it. Yet, for years, almost nobody in the lubricants trade wanted to talk about it in public.
That is finally changing, and the reasons why are as much about geopolitics and supply chain fragility as they do about sustainability. For blenders, marketers and formulators still treating rerefined base oil as a niche curiosity, the last four years offer a cautionary tale about how quickly “nice to have” can become “must have.”
In the early 2020s, rerefined base oil occupied an awkward commercial position. It was sold at a discount to virgin equivalent, largely because customers assumed, often wrongly, that a product derived from used oil must be of poorer quality. It found homes as a cheaper alternative to virgin base oils, particularly among regional, independent lubricant blenders, who cared more about margin than messaging.
But its origin was also its liability. Because it came from waste-derived streams, customers who used it tended to keep quiet about it. There were limited opportunities for active promotion, and conversations about it at industry events, as one presentation on the sector’s history put it, remained “under the radar.”
Rerefined oil was, in short, the industry’s black sheep. It quietly delivered the fleece but nobody put it in a marketing presentation.
Sustainability Changes the Conversation
That changed almost overnight in 2022.
A wave of climate policy activity — COP26 in Glasgow, the fallout from COP24 in Katowice, the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, corporate net-zero roadmaps and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting — pushed environmental, social and governance considerations from the periphery of procurement decisions into the center.
Suddenly, a product that reduced crude oil demand, lowered energy consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions relative to virgin base oil stock looked less like a compromise and more like an asset.
Rerefined base oil ticked boxes that mattered to a new set of buyers: demonstrable carbon savings, support for circular economy commitments and a genuine story to tell shareholders and investors about supply chain decarbonization.
Crucially, the customer base widened. It was no longer just cost-conscious independents buying rerefined base oil. Global brands and, notably, big oil firms started to demand it. A better reputation followed. For a few years, “rising popularity” was a fair description of where rerefined base oil sat in the industry’s collective mind.
When Priorities Shifted
Then market conditions turned.
As oil prices fell and trading conditions toughened through 2025, sustainability slipped down the list of priorities for a lot of buyers. Procurement, in many organisations, reverted to a back-to-basics focus: traditional models, lowest landed cost and minimal complexity.
Rerefined base oil, recently a strategic asset, found itself down the pecking order again, not because it had got worse, but because the tailwind that had elevated it had reversed. It risked slipping back into the background, still available, still capable and still largely ignored.
Geopolitics Changes Everything
What has pulled rerefined base oil back into serious conversation isn’t a renewed burst of climate idealism. It’s geopolitics.
The conflict between the United States and Iran wrought renewed instability around the Strait of Hormuz, alongside damage to Middle East refining infrastructure. This has reintroduced the kind of supply risk the lubricants industry hasn’t had to plan around for years. Tightening supply of oil-related products and price volatility across the market have forced companies to reassess where their feedstock actually comes from.
| Country | RRBO production capacity (metric tons per year) | Producers |
|---|---|---|
Germany | 230,000 | Puraglobe, Avista |
France | 120,000 | Eco Huile, Sertego/Osilub |
Italy | 98,000 | Itelyum, Ram Oil |
Denmark | 75,000 | Avista Green |
Turkey | 45,000 | Tayraş |
Finland | 40,000 | Techoil |
United Kingdom | 35,000 | Whelan |
Portugal | 30,000 | Egeo, Enviroil |
Spain | 25,000 | Cator |
Greece | 42,500 | LPC. Green Oil, GITech |
This is where RRBO’s structural advantage becomes hard to ignore. It doesn’t depend on the Strait of Hormuz. It doesn’t depend on virgin refineries thousands of miles away. Its feedstock – used lubricating oil – is generated domestically, in the industry’s own backyard.
Add to that the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, which pushes for more recycling, more domestic processing and less reliance on single external suppliers, and rerefined base oil starts to look less like a sustainability nice-to-have and more like a resilience strategy.
In the space of about a year, it has gone from an afterthought to something closer to essential.
UK Opportunity
The scale of the opportunity is worth spelling out.
The UK’s lubricant market runs to roughly 515,000 tons per year. Of that, around 220,000 tons becomes used lubricating oil available for collection. At a typical base oil yield of around 65%, that collected volume could in theory deliver roughly 143,000 tons of rerefined base oil that could be fed into home and export markets, equivalent to about a quarter of total new lubricant market demand for the UK.
Think about that. A quarter of the market’s demand is sitting in a feedstock stream that the industry already controls — in our garages, service centers, quick lubes, breakers yards, manufacturing sites, marinas and ports.
And yet the UK rerefines only around 50% of the used lubricating oil it collects. The rest is still burnt. Compare that with Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece and Italy. All are cited as rerefining 100% of their collected volumes.
The gap isn’t feedstock availability or technical capability. It’s weak regulatory enforcement and a framework that doesn’t yet compel better behavior. The UK is leaving a quarter of its potential lubricant demand unrealized through inertia, not necessity.
More Than a Sustainability Story
Increasingly, the argument for rerefined base oil is that it solves two problems at once. It helps the industry cut carbon and meet sustainability targets, and it offers a more secure, local source of supply at a time when global oil supply chains are under strain. Both benefits trace back to the same source – used oil that’s already being collected close to home.
Companies like Slicker Recycling show what this looks like in practice. As the UK’s largest collector of used lubricating oil, and through a joint venture with Germany’s Avista that runs a base oil rerefinery in Denmark.
What was once framed as an environmental nicety now reads as sound commercial planning.
Businesses should treat rerefined base oil as a core part of their strategy, not something they promote when sustainability is fashionable and quietly drop when oil prices fall.
Here’s why. The product itself hasn’t really changed since 2020. What’s changed is which of its benefits happen to be in demand in any given year. Companies that only champion rerefined base oil when it suits the mood of the market aren’t following a strategy. They’re following the headlines.
A better approach means a few practical steps:
- Find out what actually happens to your product after it’s used, rather than assuming it’s handled responsibly;
- Help customers understand the difference between real regeneration and simply recovering oil;
- Push for stronger rules and better enforcement. The UK currently rerefines only about half its used oil, far behind other European countries that are close to 100%;
- Start building partnerships with rerefining companies now, before the next supply crisis forces the industry to scramble for solutions.
Home at Last
Rerefined base oil has been the black sheep, then the star pupil, then the one nobody called. Now it’s edging back toward being an essential player on the global feedstock stage.
The oil hasn’t changed.
Whether the industry finally takes it seriously, on commercial grounds as much as environmental ones, is another matter.
MARK OLPIN is executive chairman at Slicker Recycling. He has more than 35 years’ experience in the waste management and environmental sector and is a passionate advocate for rerefining and the circular economy in the UK.