Recycling lubes packages meets rising demand.
With over seven million lubricant containers being discarded every year in New Zealand alone, major lubricant industry brands have established a Waste Lubricant Container Product Stewardship Scheme.
Going to waste Image: Commons |
With backing from the likes of Allied Lubricants, Castrol and Penrite, the Scheme aims to recover, re-use and recycle waste lubricant containers for urban and rural customers. Voluntary members of the scheme hope to divert large numbers of containers from landfill and reduce the need for imports.
In a report from Global Market Insights published in September 2017, the demand for lubricant packaging in Asia-Pacific which is predicted to grow at a compound annual rate of 3.5% from 2017 to 2024, is driven by the region’s increasing thirst for lubes, especially from India and China.
Regional changes to lubes packaging, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, saw plastic drums and smaller packs becoming more popular than steel drums. The increased use of plastics - generally high density polyethylene, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate - has been forced, in part, by cost pressures as well as convenience.