1. Roger Creswell (Oil Recycling Association)
Small Waste Oil Burners - DEFRA's position and Interpretation of the Law
Roger Creswell (Oil Recycling Association) 1

2. SOMETHING ABOUT WASTE OIL
IN THIS CONTEXT, WHAT IS WASTE OIL?
HOW MUCH IS COLLECTED? UK about 250,000 tpa (~ 300,000,000 litres)
MODERN MOTOR OILS CONTAIN UP TO ABOUT 20% OF PERFORMANCE ADDITIVES
WASTE OIL IS NOT JUST MINERAL OR SYNTHETIC OIL:- ESSENTIALLY A CHEMICAL MIX OF SPENT AND UNSPENT ADDITIVES, ORGANO-METALLICS, WATER, DIRT, WEAR DEBRIS
(Ca, Zn, Cr, Cl, P, Pb, Cu, PCA’s ……. etc)
ALL WASTE MINERAL OILS etc., ARE HAZARDOUS WASTES (EWC SECTION’s 12/13)
WASTE OIL IS NOT A STRAIGHT SUBSTITUTE FOR CONVENTIONAL FUEL

3. SOMETHING ABOUT THE OIL RECYCLING ASSOCIATION ORA
30 MEMBERS
OPERATING ACROSS THE UK – HIGHLY REGULATED INDUSTRY
PLAY A SIGNIFICANT PART IN MANAGING NON AQUEOUS LIQUID HAZARDOUS WASTES
COLLECTIONS SPAN COMMERCIAL, RETAIL, INDUSTRIAL, LOCAL AUTHORITY ACTIVITIES etc., CHARACTERISED BY LOTS OF SMALL UPLIFTS - ONE OF THE LARGEST HW CONSIGNMENT NOTE PRODUCERS!!
CHAIN OF COLLECTIONS, LEADING TO AGGREGATION FOR ONWARD PROCESSING OR EXPORT
THERE IS ALSO WASTE FUEL (Contaminated/mixed/wet) that also requires disposal
SECTOR COVERS ASSOCIATED WASTES, BRAKE FLUIDS, ANTI FREEZE, PACKAGES, OILY RAGS, FILTERS, AUTO PARTS, INTERCEPTORS etc.,………..

4. MANAGING WASTE OIL to this Sectors Aim From this not this
NOR ‘LIGHT TOUCH’ HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATION - SWOB’s
Google search waste oil burners
and on to recovery

5. WHAT’S THE ISSUE WITH SMALL WASTE OIL BURNERS?
IN A NUTSHELL, THEIR FIT WITH OFFICIAL GUIDANCE PRE 2016 AND THEIR NATURAL ATTRACTIVENESS TO USERS
In England and Wales:
The law has until recently allowed SWOB’s users to:
Burn their own waste oil without recovering the heat
Avoid premises code registration
Avoid waste oil collections by ORA members
Avoid waste oil collection charges by ORA members
Acquire waste oil from third parties to produce energy / heat
Incinerate waste oil from third parties on a chargeable basis
Operate a 3MW road stone coating plant or boiler
With only the need to register their appliance under a lightweight
LA licence –about £150 pa

6. HOW DID THAT SITUATION ARISE?
AN OVERLY COMPLEX RANGE OF LEGISLATION WIDELY INTERPRETED
From a user’s perspective SWOB’s are:
VERY COST EFFECTIVE
PERHAPS TOO ENDEAR A FEELING THAT BURNING WASTE OIL MAKES GOOD SENSE, ‘SECOND LIFE’ ……..THEREFORE ‘GREEN’ …………..
EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER CONNECTIONS TO THE USA/ RoW WHERE WASTE OIL MANAGEMENT IS VERY DIFFERENT TO THAT OF EU EUROPE

7. SOMETHING ABOUT WASTE OIL LEGISLATION
HAS A LONG HISTORY- both re potential pollution and resource issues
IN 1975 THE FIRST WASTE OIL DIRECTIVE (WOD) PRECEDED THE FIRST WASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE
PRIORITY GIVEN TO REGENERATION (recovery of base oil for reuse as a lubricant) OVER COMBUSTION
LOOSE LEGAL LANGUAGE - BROADLY INTERPRETED
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION – France, Italy, Spain etc., created market distortions
EUROPEAN RE-REFINERIES SPRUNG UP BUT HAD QUALITY ISSUES AND IN EARLY TIMES MANY RECOVERED OIL USER MARKETS LOST CONFIDENCE
UK ADOPTED SIMPLE TREATMENTS TO MAKE A RECOVERED FUEL OIL used in coal fired power stations, steel making, drying road stone

8. OUTBREAK OF ‘HOSTILITIES’ INDUSTRY vs. AUTHORITY
BECAME AN EARLY END OF WASTE ISSUE (EoW) ~
AFTER 40 + YEARS EA/WASTE INDUSTRY ARGUE - COSTLY /TEDIOUS
INDUSTRY FELT IT FACED RUIN IF FUEL PRODUCED REMAINED WASTE
COMPLEX OVERLAP OF WASTE AND WASTE INCINERATION (WID) LEGISLATION - LATENCY OF SWOB’s ISSUE
AGENCY VIEW WAS WASTE OIL BURNING MUST BE WID COMPLIANT
/ END OF WASTE OCCURS AT POINT OF COMBUSTION?
LED TO BENCHMARK ‘OSS CASE’ - COURT OF APPEAL /EoW DECISION
FORMATION OF UK QUALITY PROTOCOLS AND BASIS OF MUCH CURRENT EU EoW GUIDANCE

9. MORE ABOUT LEGISLATION
Meanwhile
WOD SEEN BY MANY AS FAILED – DESPITE SOME EU INFRACTION PROCEEDINGS
1975 WOD DIRECTIVE WAS ‘SUBSUMED’ IN REVISED WASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE (rWFD 2008/98)
FATE NOW LINKED TO THE WASTE HIERARCHY (Article 4 reiterates the recycling priority angle AND WASTE OIL GIVEN ITS OWN ARTICLE (21).
rWFD DIRECTIVE STILL WIDELY INTERPRETED BY MEMBER STATES – SOME MARKET INTERVENTION (TAXES, SUBSIDIES etc.) – REGENERATION PERFORMANCE TENDS TO EBB AND FLOW WITH CRUDE OIL PRICES
UK VIEWED BY MANY AS ‘ANTI’ RE-REFINING AND MOST WASTE OIL STILL CONVERTED TO FUEL

10. RENAISSANCE PERIOD?
2008 TO CURRENT TIMES SAW MUCH WASTE OIL CONVERTED TO NON WASTE STATUS AS PROCESSED FUEL OIL (PFO) and NEW INVESTMENT
BUT AT A LARGE REGULATORY COST EXACERBATED BY A DECLINE IN DEMAND FOR RESIDUAL FUELS INCLUDING PFO (POWER, STEEL, ROAD MAKING) …….. SWOB’s not impacted
BUT, MOST WASTE OIL COLLECTED EFFICIENTLY AND FEW POLLUTION ISSUES (however high oil prices = more criminal activity !…………)
THEN BY 2014 WASTE OIL MARKET EXACERBATED BY LOW CRUDE OIL VALUES FORCING DISPOSAL WASTE OIL COSTS BACK TO THE PRODUCERS - SWOB’s USERS GROW!
RECOVERY INVESTORS LOOK TO IDENTIFYING HIGHER VALUE OUTPUTS FROM OIL PROCESSING BUT SWOB’s STILL SEEM TO ESCAPE THE LAW?
INVESTMENT STIFLED

11. SWOB’s WAKE UP PERIOD?
SWOB’s USERS ENJOYED ‘LIGHT REGULATION’ THROUGH A ‘RATHER PERVERSE’ DEFRA VIEW (FROM 2006)
SO AT ONE EXTREME WE HAVE RIGID CONTROLS OF BURNING WASTE OIL RESTRICTING USES AND AT THE OTHER A ‘LIGHT TOUCH OPEN DOOR’
BUT SCOTLAND AND NI CONFIRM SWOB’s/ BURNING OF WASTE OIL MUST BE WID (IED) COMPLIANT! - NO RELAXED INTERPRETATION

12. WHOSE PROBLEM WAS SWOB’s?
‘NEW HOSTILITY?’
WHOSE PROBLEM WAS SWOB’s?
DEFRA NOT REALLY MOVED – MIXED MESSAGES
NOT EA’s, NOT LA’s - WHO TAKE DIRECTION FROM DEFRA, BUT FROM ONE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT - NOT ITS WASTE DIVISION?
OUR INDUSTRY PLAYERS COMPLAINED TO THE COMMISSION WHO THEN ‘WARN’ UK ……… SLOW PROCESS!
A SINGLE WASTE INDUSTRY PLAYER SEEKS A JUDICIAL REVIEW
2016 DEFRA WITHDRAW FROM PROCEEDINGS AND AGREE SWOB’s ARE (FROM 4/16) SUBJECT TO CHAPTER IV OF THE IED
COST OF PERMITS AND MONITORING NOW LIKELY TO SEE EXISTING SMALL OIL BURNERS CONVERTED TO CONVENTIONAL OIL FUEL OR ABANDONED OR GAS HEATING IS ADOPTED

13. ‘END GAME’
LESSONS?
POOR DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE LAW(s) LEAD TO A LENGTHY AND COSTLY EXERCISE
PROBABLE WILLINGNESS OF GOVERNMENT TO BE LIGHT TOUCH?
LEFT AND RIGHT HANDS OF GOVERNMENT - ‘GENERAL AIR OF AMBIVALENCE?’
MANY USERS PURCHASED EQUIPMENT THEY PROBABLY SHOULDN’T
RECENT RESULT LEFT SWOB’s USERS UNHAPPY BELIEVING THEY WERE RECYCLING AND ‘GOOD ENVIRONMENTALISTS’
LEFT A POOR IMAGE OF UK WITH OUR PEERS IN MUCH OF EU
UNDERMINED UK INVESTMENT IN NEW RECOVERY TECHNIQUES
GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY MACHINERY UNFOCUSED AND UNWILLING TO ACT
PUT UK IN A BAD LIGHT AT HOME AND ABROAD
IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CASE, PERSIST!

14. UK Oil Recycling Association OilRecyclingAsso@aol.com
Presented by
Roger Creswell
UK Oil Recycling Association
Tel +44 (0) .