Castrol launches used oil re-refining program

Castrol has launched Castrol MoreCircular, which is designed to reduce the carbon footprint of business lubricants in the United States (US). ‘Castrol MoreCircular’ encompasses the entire process of collecting used oil from business customers, re-refining it and integrating re-refined base oil into premium lubricants for supply to businesses.

‘Castrol MoreCircular’ has been created in collaboration with Safety-Kleen, an environmental services subsidiary of Clean Harbors Inc. Following successful market trials, Safety-Kleen and Castrol signed a multi-year collaboration agreement. The ‘Castrol MoreCircular’ Program will officially launch on May 20, 2024, at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The end-to-end offer begins with collecting used lubricants from ‘Castrol MoreCircular’ customers such as fleet maintenance shops and industrial sites. The used oil is then re-processed, enabling around 70% of it to be recovered as base oil. Re-refined base oil is combined with Castrol’s cutting-edge technology to blend premium lubricants, resulting in an estimated 20-40% lower carbon footprint than Castrol’s traditional products. Re-refined base oil makes up at least 65% of the base oil in each MoreCircular lubricant; the reduction in the carbon footprint depends partly on the percentage of RRBO used.

“Our ability to collect used oil from across the country and reprocess a waste product means that much of it can be used repeatedly. Delivering these lower-carbon-footprint lubricants can help our business customers meet their sustainability goals with the same high-quality and high-performance they expect from Castrol,” said Andreas Osbar, CEO of Castrol Americas. “We believe the time is right to lead the market with an integrated, more circular approach to lower carbon footprint, as our business customers are searching for levers to help de-carbonize their operations. This is a first-of-its-kind, nationwide offer in the US, and we’re excited to partner with Safety-Kleen to deliver it.”

“Safety-Kleen is proud to partner with Castrol, a recognized industry leader, to help bring increased circularity to the United States lubricants industry,” said Brian Weber, President of Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions, a segment of Clean Harbors, Inc. “We are North America’s largest collector of used oil with more than 200 branch locations that safely and compliantly collect more than 250 million gallons annually. Our operations span every major metropolitan area in the U.S., and we can meet the waste oil collection needs of any customer of Castrol’s ‘MoreCircular’ offering”.