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Ever wondered what happens to the oil drained from your car or machinery once it’s no longer any good?

 

In the Region of Murcia, much of it gets a surprisingly useful second life. More than 6,400 tonnes of used industrial oil were collected in 2025, with almost all of it processed to recover valuable materials.

 

Used oil is classed as hazardous waste because it can contain toxic substances and heavy metals. Just one litre can potentially contaminate up to one million litres of water, making proper collection particularly important.

 

According to SIGAUS, which organises the collection and recovery of used industrial oil, the 6,421 gross tonnes generated in Murcia last year came from 2,656 businesses.

 

Mechanical workshops accounted for 53% of them, while another 13% were industrial facilities. The rest came from a wide range of businesses including agriculture, transport, hospitality and retail.

 

Once collected, the oil is treated to remove water and other impurities. In 2025, this produced 6,236 net tonnes of used oil for recovery. Almost all of it, 99.6%, went through regeneration. This process extracts lubricant base oils that can be used to make new lubricants.

 

The results are impressive. Around three litres of used oil can produce two litres of new lubricant, and the recycled oil collected in Murcia helped put 3,890 tonnes of new lubricants back on the market last year.

 

That's enough to fill the crankcases of around 960,000 passenger cars. The remaining 23 tonnes were treated to produce 20 tonnes of BIA fuel, a low-sulphur industrial fuel used in furnaces and boilers.

 

The recycling process also avoided an estimated 4,157 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, since regenerating used oil requires less energy than producing new petroleum-based lubricants.

 

SIGAUS CEO Eduardo de Lecea explained that the figures show how the circular economy is already working in practice, turning hazardous waste into useful resources while reducing its environmental impact.

 

Image: Magnific