Waste oil – legislation

The Waste Oil Ordinance has been in force since the end of 1987. According to the Ordinance, oils for machines, engines, turbines, et cetera may only be sold to the end user if their packaging bears a stamp or label that states the oil is to be taken to a waste oil collection point after use. If sellers of lubricating oils are unable to set up a collection point of their own for waste oil (for example department stores, hypermarkets, retail stores), they must enter into arrangements with third parties at their own expense in order to ensure there is a collection point in the vicinity.

Waste oils may only be reprocessed if they contain no contaminants or if any such contaminants are separated or destroyed by the reprocessing process. It is also prohibited to admix foreign substances such as solvents, brake fluids and coolants to waste oils that could be reprocessed. Waste oil that cannot be recycled may be reused as fuel or must be disposed of at dedicated special waste plants.

The Amended Version of the Waste Oil Ordinance entered into force on 1 May 2002. The central substantive provision of the Amended Waste Oil Ordinance, which is laid down in Section 2, is the prioritisation of reprocessing, a requirement analogous to the duties imposed by Article 3(1) of the EU Waste Oils Directive. ("Where technical, economic and organizational constraints so allow, Member States shall take the measures necessary to give priority to the processing of waste oils by regeneration.")

Section 4 ensures the reprocessing of waste oil enjoys priority over other waste management processes with its requirements concerning separate disposal and prohibitions on the mixing of waste oils. In order to ensure clarity about the different types of treatment required, four collection categories of waste oil are defined in accordance with their suitability for reprocessing. Waste oils must not be mixed with other kinds of waste, and different collection categories are to be stored separately from one another. The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration in Munich was commissioned by the Federal Environment Ministry to conduct a research project on the implications of these provisions. Exemptions from the requirements concerning separate storage and the prohibitions on mixing are possible provided that separate storage of the waste oils is not necessary in order to comply with the duty to reuse or recycle waste oils appropriately without causing harm and the duty to prioritise the reprocessing of waste oils, and that the mixing of the waste oils is provided for in the licence granted to the waste oil disposal plant. As a matter of principle, these exemptions from the prohibition on mixing waste oils also find application to the collection and transportation of waste oils. Only waste oils in collection category 1 (waste oils suitable for reprocessing) categorically have to be stored separately from other collection categories when they are collected and transported. Such oils may be mixed in the disposal plant, at the earliest, provided this is allowed by the licence granted to the plant. (See also the opinion on the national provisions for the collection and reuse/recycling of waste oils in the EU Member States.)

The European Waste Oil Directive has been integrated into the amended European Waste Framework Directive. This legislation no longer provides for the mandatory prioritisation of waste oil reprocessing under Community law, but merely requires that waste oils generally be collected and treated in an environmentally sound manner. National legislation on the prioritisation of reprocessing may continue to be upheld in the individual Member States. As a matter of principle, the waste hierarchy provided for in Article 4 of the European Waste Framework Directive, which applies for all kinds of waste, also privileges the reprocessing of waste oil, while the fundamental requirement of separate collection and storage laid down in Article 18 of the European Waste Framework Directive supports reprocessing. The implementation of the waste hierarchy is governed by the provisions set out in Article 4(2).

Oils that are accumulated as waste and consist of mineral oil, synthetic oil or biogenic oil completely or in part.

Non-doped base oils for the production of high quality lubricant products such as engine oils, gear oils, turbine oils and lubricating greases.

Any method by which base oils are produced from waste oils by applying refinery processes and by which, in particular, contaminants, oxidation products and additives contained in these oils are removed.