Oil recycler Glide has officially opened the country’s first waste oil re-refinery at its Pukekohe site, providing an alternative to burning used engine oil for industrial heat.
The Subway Road facility takes used oil collected from workshops, vehicle dealerships and fleet operators nationwide and processes it into re-refined base oil for use in new lubricants.
Glide estimates the operation could avoid up to 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, with the calculated savings independently verified by Toitū Envirocare.
Glide general manager John Knox says the plant changes how New Zealand can manage a common automotive waste product.
“Every oil change in New Zealand has ended the same way. The old oil gets collected, and then it gets burned,” Knox says.
“It’s a valuable resource, and we’ve been setting fire to it. This plant means that oil can now become new oil again, right here in Pukekohe.”
Glide has handled waste oil at the site since 1984, previously operating as WPC Limited before rebranding in late 2025.
Its re-refinery reached practical completion on March 31 and has since undergone commissioning.
“We’ve been handling waste oil on this site since 1984, and our team has spent years getting this plant from concept to fully operational,” Knox says.
“We wanted to prove the plant and set a pathway towards optimisation.”
Alternative to burning waste oil
New Zealand’s collected waste engine oil has historically been burned as fuel in industrial heating processes.
Glide says burning releases the oil’s carbon and other contaminants into the atmosphere while permanently removing a resource that could otherwise be reused.
Re-refining recovers the base oil, reducing the need to produce replacement oil from crude and New Zealand’s reliance on imported products.
Glide executive director Gavin Thomas says the facility gives businesses a new way to reduce their environmental impact.
“For decades, New Zealand has had no choice but to burn its waste oil. Being the first facility of its kind here means we can finally change that,” Thomas says.
“Taking potentially 100,000 tonnes of carbon out of the picture each year is a real, measurable result, and it happens simply by recycling something we were already collecting.
“For workshops, dealerships and fleet operators, it’s a straightforward way to know their waste oil is being recycled, not burned. That matters to their customers, and it matters to their own emissions reporting.”
Oil returned to base components
The process differs from filtering used oil or burning it for heat because the material is returned to its base components and cleaned to a standard Glide says is comparable with virgin base oil.
Collected oil is tested on arrival before water, fuel residues and solids are removed during pre-treatment.
It then undergoes vacuum distillation, separating the base oil from heavier residues. A finishing process removes remaining impurities, producing clear re-refined base oil ready to be blended into new lubricants.
Glide says about 70% of waste oil is base oil, which does not wear out and can be re-refined repeatedly.
It says approximately 99% of the waste base oil can be recovered, while water, light cut, middle distillate and asphalt extender are also separated and repurposed.
The company says its process allows almost all the waste oil it receives to be reused.
