The Government has renewed the accreditation of a product stewardship scheme which has been preventing environmental harm by reducing the potential for illegal or unsafe discharges of used oil.
“Used oil that was previously either dumped in garage backyards or down drains or sent to the Holcim cement kilns in Westport is now collected and carefully managed. The Recovering Oil Saves the Environment (R.O.S.E.) scheme has operated since 2011 and has also improved the storage of used oil at the sites it services,” Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage said in Christchurch today.
The R.O.S.E Scheme is a collaboration between Fulton Hogan, Petroleum Services and Salters Cartage to recover, recycle and reuse used oil across New Zealand. Oil that is collected through the scheme is available to contracted and consented used oil users.
“Under the scheme around 2.5 million litres of used oil is collected annually from across New Zealand and then used as a fuel source by businesses which hold the appropriate resource consents. Fulton Hogan, for example, uses the used oil in its asphalt production plants around the country, as an alternative fuel source to diesel, light fuel oil and gas.
“I am pleased to renew the R.O.S.E scheme’s accreditation for another seven years because the volumes of used oil collected have been growing. Fulton Hogan collected 250% more oil in 2017/18 than it did in 2011/12 - the scheme’s first year of operation as an accredited scheme.
“Product stewardship involves responsible management of a product’s environmental impacts at all stages of its life cycle The “Recovering Oil Saves the Environment” scheme is a good example of the types of product stewardship scheme which we need to see more of.
“People and the environment benefit when businesses step up and consider what happens to products they use, and how to avoid harmful waste from them. Fulton Hogan and its partners have done this in operating the Recovering Oil Saves the Environment scheme,” she said.
“It’s a good example of how we can shift away from a ‘take-make-waste’ economy to a ‘make-use-return’ one, where products are repeatedly re-used or recycled.”
The largest consumers of used oil under the ROSE scheme are Fulton Hogan Ltd, Oji Fibre Solutions Ltd and Tegel NZ Ltd. Other participants in the scheme include: Allied Lubricants, BP, Repco, Supercheap Auto,Lubricants NZ, Oil Intel.
The R.O.S.E scheme is one of fourteen voluntary product stewardship schemes with Ministerial accreditation. It complies with the Environmental Protection Authority’s 2013 guidelines under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act on the management and handling of used oil.
Further information on product stewardship and the Waste Minimisation Fund is available from www.mfe.govt.nz/waste.
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