Operating since 1996, Holcim’s Used Oil Recovery Programme is recognised as one of the country’s most successful and effective environmental security programmes.

New Zealanders annually produce about 30 million litres of used oil, with secure disposal being a major environmental issue. This is because used oil – chiefly used engine and lubrication oils – is an environmental hazard, especially when it is put into landfills or burnt at low temperatures.

But the immensely high temperatures reached in firing a cement kiln make the kiln ideal for the environmentally secure disposal of used oil.

By co-processing used oil with coal to fire the cement kilns at Westport Works, Holcim New Zealand also reduces the use of non-renewable coal and lowers its energy bill. All this is achieved while staying well within the air emission levels mandated in the plant’s resource consents.

Since the programme began, over 100 million litres of waste oil have been safely removed from the New Zealand environment and transported to Westport Works. A large number of organisations, including oil companies and waste oil producers, work together to ensure collection and transport.

In April 2009 the Used Oil Recovery Programme received the first New Zealand accreditation as a Product Stewardship Scheme under the Waste Minimisation Act (2008).