Castrol has partnered with Safety-Kleen to launch ‘Castrol MoreCircular,’ a national program designed to reduce the carbon footprint of U.S.-based business lubricants. The company explains that ‘MoreCircular’ encompasses the entire process of collecting used oil from business customers, re-refining it and integrating re-refined base oil (RRBO) into premium lubricants for supply to businesses.
Castrol says ‘MoreCircular’ combines its lubricant technology with Safety-Kleen’s wide geographic reach and expertise in collecting and re-refining used oil. The goal is to integrate RRBO into lubricant formulations while ensuring that the new product range continues to meet or exceed the OEM and industry standards. Castrol says successful trials with a number of its customers demonstrated the high-quality, high-performance attributes of these lower carbon footprint lubricants, which showed the same performance as the version containing virgin base oil.
According to Castrol, the process begins with the collection of used lubricants from ‘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. RRBO is combined with Castrol’s technology to blend lubricants, resulting in an approximate 20-40% lower carbon footprint compared to Castrol’s traditional products, as estimated by independent carbon footprinting consultancy Environmental Resources Management. Castrol explains RRBO makes up at least 65% of the base oil in each ‘MoreCircular’ lubricant; the size of the carbon footprint reduction depends partly on the percentage of RRBO used.
Following successful market trials, Safety-Kleen and Castrol signed a multi-year collaboration agreement. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. The ‘MoreCircular’ Program will officially launch on May 20 at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Las Vegas, NV.
“Our ability to collect used oil from across the country and reprocess a waste product means that much of it can be used again and again. 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, chief executive officer Castrol Americas. “We believe the time is right to lead the market with an integrated more circular – and as a result, lower-carbon-footprint – offer 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 to 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 across 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”.
