Lubricants are a complex market since agents from many sectors are involved and, in addition, it is not possible to safely attribute the waste generated by these products to the manufacturers that have marketed them, which is why it is necessary to carry out Independent studies that make it possible to identify the structure of this market and quantify its segments.

The study carried out at the beginning of 2019 by the consultant PwC on data for 2018 offers few variations regarding the situation of the market when analysed last year. Actually, the representation of the share of SIGAUS companies is slightly reduced, standing at 84.19% compared to 85.67% for the previous study, while the total market experienced a growth of 4%, due to the 357,348 tons of industrial oils marketed in 2018 compared to 343,430 t in 2017.

These figures refer to industrial oils that are marketed in Spain and that are subject to the regulations that contemplate Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), excluding exports in vehicles and electrical and electronic equipment. Most of them refer to the oils regulated by Royal Decree 679/2006 for used oils, although they also include the regulations on waste from electrical and electronic equipment (Royal Decree 110/2015) and vehicles at the end of their useful life (Royal Decree 20/2017), two regulations that transfer responsibility to the manufacturers of certain appliances and vehicles the responsibility who must therefore manage the oils they contain.