Turning India's Used Oil Problem Into an Opportunity
India generates 1.3 million tonnes of used oil annually. Less than 15% is formally recycled. Santosh is building the infrastructure to change that.
01 · EPR MANDATE
A Mandate With a Deadline
India's EPR regulations under the Hazardous Waste Rules 2023 require lubricant manufacturers to blend increasing proportions of Re-Refined Base Oil (RRBO) into their finished products. The mandate escalates from 5% in FY2025 to 50% by FY2031 — creating an immediate, binding market for domestically produced RRBO.
The mandate creates the demand. What decides who supplies it is feedstock and quality. Santosh brings two decades of distribution relationships across western Uttar Pradesh to the collection side, and a process designed for colour 0.5, with no acid, to the output side. A competitor can buy the same plant. The collection network took twenty years to build.
EPR RRBO BLENDING MANDATE PROGRESSION
Source: CPCB EPR Portal · Hazardous Waste (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules 2023
02 · CIRCULAR ECONOMY
The Loop That Closes the Gap
Every litre of re-refined base oil displaces a litre of virgin stock, pulls used oil out of the waste stream, and goes back into the engines it came from. The EPR mandate turns that loop from a good argument into a legal requirement.
03 · ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Less Energy. Less Carbon. Less Waste.
Less energy consumed in production vs virgin base oil
Source: TEV Report / DPR — Santosh Petrochemical Innovations
Re-refining used lubricating oil requires significantly less energy than refining crude oil into virgin base stock. By recapturing used oil that would otherwise be burned as fuel, dumped, or improperly disposed of, re-refiners like Santosh eliminate a major source of soil and groundwater contamination across India.
The asphalt flux residue from the re-refining process is reused in road construction — meaning Santosh's plant operates with zero waste to landfill. Every input is either refined into premium RRBO or converted into a useful secondary product.
India's public sector oil companies have begun committing to re-refined base oil at national scale. The demand side of this market is no longer speculative, and the EPR mandate puts a floor under it.