Oil recycling
What you must do
Authorisations to operate
Small waste oil burners
if you use small waste oil burners (SWOBs):
- In Northern Ireland, you need a PPC Part A permit
- In Scotland, you need an EASR permit
You must dispose of all waste ash from SWOBs regularly, using sealed, dust tight plastic bags to contain the ash throughout collection, storage, transportation and disposal.
You must not burn paint or solvents in your SWOB
You must ensure that your SWOBs comply with clean air legislation.
Locate your storage facilities and SWOB as far from watercourses as possible.
Biofuel
As a general guide, in Northern Ireland, if you produce more than 5000 litres of biodiesel from waste catering oils, your business is likely to require a PPC permit.
In Scotland, if you produce biodiesel or bioethanol from waste or virgin vegetable oils, you will need an EASR authorisation.
The type of authorisation you need depends on the type and quantities of oil used, for example:
- If you store and treat 25m3 or less of waste cooking oil at a time to make biodiesel you will need an EASR registration
- If you store and treat more than 25m3 you may need an EASR permit
If you store, handle, transport, treat, recover, reuse or recycle waste oil or waste catering oil you must hold a waste management licence or an exemption and meet your requirements under Duty of Care
Animal By-Products
If you store, handle or treat waste catering oils or vegetable oils, you must comply with the Animal By-Products Regulations. You must store and treat waste catering oils separately from all other wastes. You must only store, treat or reprocess waste catering oils on waterproof, weatherproof surfaces which are housed under cover, and which animals, including birds, cannot access.
Hazardous / special waste
Waste oils are classified as hazardous/special waste. You must follow regulations for dealing with hazardous/special waste. You must not dispose of oil at a landfill that is not registered to receive hazardous/special waste.
You must not dispose of waste oil into any skip or waste bin. This would contaminate all the waste within the skip, which you would then have to treat as hazardous/special waste. This could greatly increase your waste disposal costs.
Storage
You must not mix waste oil with any paints or solvents. Do not pour oil into a drain, or allow it to contaminate any land, ground or surface waters, (e.g. streams, rivers or burns) or air. Locate your storage facilities as far from watercourses as possible.
You must prevent ethanol, methanol or sodium hydroxide used in the transesterification process for waste catering oils from causing any land, water or air pollution. Store all chemicals separately, as far from watercourses as possible, in secure, labelled, waterproof and leakproof drums.
You must ensure all waste glycerol and filters are reused, recycled or disposed of by an authorised waste management company.
If you store any kind of oil on your premises, you may need to comply with the Regulations for Oil Storage.
You must ensure potential odours from flue gases or storage tank breathers from waste oil tanks do not create a statutory nuisance.
If you use a vapourising burner, you must inspect your smoke emissions weekly.
Oil filters
You must ensure that you remove all waste oil from oil filters before you send the remaining metal for reprocessing. You must treat all waste oil filters and waste oil as hazardous/special waste.
You must not make any discharge to surface water or groundwater without consulting your environmental regulator. If you discharge without an authorisation, permit or consent from your environmental regulator you could be prosecuted and fined or imprisoned.
You must not discharge trade effluent to a public sewer without trade effluent consent or a trade effluent agreement with your water and sewerage company or authority. If you discharge without a consent or agreement you could be prosecuted and fined or imprisoned.
Good practice
Ensure your burner is operating as efficiently as possible, by checking for leaks in seals where air might leak into the burner. Any sudden increases in the amount of oil you use may indicate leaks in seals or your storage tanks.
Follow the waste lubricating oil quality protocol
The waste lubricating oil (WLO) quality protocol means that WLO will no longer be classified as waste when used as processed fuel oil, providing you meet the criteria set out in the quality protocol. This means WLO can be used without waste management controls.
For example, if it is not classed as a waste, you do not need to transport it using a waste carrier or with a waste transfer note.
The quality protocol for WLO applies in Northern Ireland.