One litre of used oil can contaminate a million litres of water. The sea takes between 10 and 15 years to get rid of the harmful effects of waste oil discarded in the water completely.

In Spain, used industrial oil is generated in a very fragmented and disperse manner. Almost half of the waste generated is concentrated in just 100 towns, with a large number of production establishments.

Every day of the year, at SIGAUS we carry our almost 700 collections of used oil from points all around the country, from El Hierro in the Canary Islands to the small towns of the Pyrenees.

Approximately 70% of the towns where oil is collected are rural. A fourth of the producers assisted are in this scope.

In rural areas the collection is particularly expensive, requiring long journeys to recover small amounts. However, it is especially important due to the environmental risk that is avoided: the majority of the protected spaces or water resources are in the rural environment.

Used oil is a waste product that is generated in many business sectors, from an agricultural cooperative to a wind farm, a golf course, a driving school, a karting company or a military area, among many others. These are all in addition to the two main production sectors: vehicle repair and industry.

Waste oil is some of the most polluting waste there is, but it can be recovered in full if it is successfully extracted and stored.

The regeneration of used oils implies great saving of raw materials. For each 3 litres of use oil that are regenerated, 2 litres of new oil are obtained. To obtain the same amount of new oil, we would need almost 140 litres of petroleum.

For each ton of used oil destined to this treatment, 3 tons of CO₂ is saved from emission to the atmosphere (compared to if that used oil had been treated through combustion).

With just one litre of oil treated through energy recovery, enough energy would be generated to run 11 washing machines.