The public administration bodies audited by NIK did not ensure proper or reliable management of waste oils, despite numerous irregularity signals. The Ministry of Climate and Environment did not adequately analyse the condition of waste oil management. At the same time, the Ministry of Development and Technology withdrew from using an IT tool designed to collect data about submitting sales offers on the internet for solid fuel boilers that did not meet emission norms. Besides, the reports on implementing tasks related to waste oil management were submitted to the European Commission with a delay of up to 1.5 years. Although the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management adopted priority programmes to subsidise waste management programmes with PLN 10 billion, none of them was dedicated exclusively to finance activities supporting proper management of waste oils which – as hazardous waste – pose a threat to human health and life and the environment. Financing the management of waste oils was limited and focused on eliminating consequences of their mismanagement, not on preventing such phenomena.
Audit no. P/24/040/KSI
Waste oils (so-called used oils) – are mineral or synthetic lubricating or industrial oils that are no longer suitable for their originally intended use. In the EU countries, the share of used oils is the largest in the stream of liquid hazardous waste. In 2017, approximately 4.3 million tons of lubricating and industrial oils were placed on the market in the European Union, and 1.64 million tons of waste oils were collected, i.e. 38% of the quantity of marketed oils. About 61% of collected waste oils is regenerated, while 24% is processed to produce fuels, 11% is used for direct energy recovery in cement plants, lime plants, steel mills and power plants, and the remaining part is incinerated as hazardous waste. It is estimated that about 18% of collectable waste oils is used illegally.
Without proper collection or treatment waste oils can pose a serious threat to people’s health and life and the environment. It applies to water, ground or air contamination in case of uncontrolled dumps into the sewage system or the ground. According to estimates one litre of waste oil can contaminate drinking water being an equivalent of a yearly demand for 12 persons.
The laws governing waste oil management have been in force for over 20 years. But still, estimates say that approx. 100 thousand tonnes of oils are incinerated in heating installations not accommodated to that purpose. In accordance with the law waste oils can be burnt only in installations designed for thermal treatment of hazardous waste. In 2004–2016, the amount of collected waste oils in Poland went up, whereas in Europe in the same period it declined. Poland took the ninth position in this category in Europe.
The scale of problems in terms of proper management of waste oils indicates that the existing legal and organisational solutions do not provide a sufficient incentive for end users to handle this type of waste in accordance with the law. The illegal use of waste oils in heating installations, regardless of environmental damages, is also reflected in tax losses (annual tax losses are estimated at PLN 150 million). On the other hand, waste oil treatment in regeneration processes to produce base oils significantly limit the extraction of crude oil and is a vital element of circular economy.
In order to reduce negative impact of improper handling of waste oils on people’s life and health and the environment, the United Nations Global Compact Network Poland in cooperation with the government administration, NGOs and oil industry representatives developed a report in 2020 including, among other things, assumptions of changes to the laws on waste oils.
The NIK audit covering the period 2020-2024 was to show if proper and reliable waste oil management was in place.
Insufficient legal conditions
In the audited period, the Minister of Climate and Environment – despite being aware of the problem - did not take any efforts to develop draft changes to the law in terms of fighting shadow economy on the waste oil market.
In 2020–2024, no tasks, objectives or risks related directly to waste oil management were defined. In 2020–2024 (first half), the Minister of Climate and Environment and the Minister of Development and Technology did not order any analyses of the methods of receiving and collecting waste oils, their management possibilities or analyses of binding laws on waste oil management. Hence, it was impossible to plan tasks or activities to properly manage waste oils.
The only analysis (expertise) on waste oil management was related to an update of the National Waste Management Plan 2028 but its draft was developed based on incomplete data.
Wasteful expansion and closure of the bot fighting soot-spewing stoves
Since 2019, there has been an IT system in place at the Ministry of Economy to fight soot-spewing stoves. This tool was designed to enable automatic search of sales offers for solid-fuel boilers that do not meet emission norms. In June 2020, this system was expanded among others with waste oils and used oil boilers. The expansion decision was not preceded by any analysis to use new modules by the existing system users, though.
As a consequence, the expanded system was not used at the Ministry of Economy or any other institution. Finally, after three years from the expansion, the bot fighting soot-spewing stoves was closed. NIK finds the expenditure of PLN 37 thousand for the system expansion wasteful.
Unreliable reporting and delayed submittal of reports on waste oil management to European Commission
In the audited period, the Minister of Climate and Environment developed two reports on the implementation of the National Waste Management Plan 2022: for 2017–2019 and for 2020–2022. The data in the first report were incomplete.
Also reports for the European Commission on mineral or synthetic lubricating or industrial oils brought into the market and on selectively collected and treated waste oils for 2020 and 2021 were submitted to the Minister of Climate and Environment with a delay of 21 and 9 months, respectively and the report for 2022 was not submitted by the end of June 2024.
Insufficient efforts of the Inspectorate for Environmental Protection
The Inspectorate for Environmental Protection did not issue any instructions or guidelines to verify reliability of data in the waste oil register kept by entrepreneurs, nor did he order any inspections in the area of waste oil management, despite irregularity signals.
In 2020–2024, in four Provincial Inspectorates for Environmental Protection only 198 audits related to waste oil management were planned. Issues connected with waste oil management were not the key objective but only one of 61 objectives pursued in those audits.
Annual reports filed by the Chief Inspector for Environmental Protection to the Minister of Climate and Environment about the Inspectorates’ activity contained factually incorrect data. The data on entities responsible for waste oil regeneration mentioned two entities which – in line with the Database on Products, Packaging and Waste Management – were not entitled to run such activity.
Incomplete functionality of the Database on Products, Packaging and Waste Management
The Database on Products, Packaging and Waste Management did not facilitate direct acquisition of data on waste oil management. Therefore, the Provincial Inspectorates for Environmental Protection and the Marshal's Offices lacked full or credible data on the number of entities operating on the waste oil market.
Financial support not for oils
In the audited period, activities related to waste oil management could be subsidised from the financial resources of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management as part of four priority programmes. The budget earmarked for those programmes reached almost PLN 10 billion.
None of the priority programmes referred directly to subsidising tasks in the area of waste oil management. The National Fund did not analyse or identify groups of beneficiaries from this area interested in using subsidies for that purpose, nor did it promote the possibility of granting the subsidy. As a consequence, potential beneficiaries submitted only 22 subsidy applications.
Activity in the area of waste oil management without permits
All the 42 audited entities dealing with waste oil management had an entry in the Database on Products, Packaging and Waste Management but it was not always up-to-date. In some cases the activity was run without required permits or in violation of them (4 of 42). In 16 of 42 audited entities the waste registration cards involved factually incorrect data.
Only in five of 12 audited entities the weight of waste oils was defined based on weighing. In other cases it was estimated based on conversion factors which did not make it possible to specify the weight of this waste in a precise or reliable way. The lack of proper calculations threatens the reliability of data in the waste register and in reports submitted to the Marshal by entities managing waste oils.
Irregularities in the way of storing waste oils were found in nearly half of the audited entities. The most frequent violations involved mixing used oils and storing them under a single code, the lack of proper marking of containers or inappropriately securing places of waste oil storage.
Recommendations
NIK has made, among others, the following recommendations:
To the Minister of Climate and Environment to:
- ensure effective supervision over waste oil management, in particular by carrying out a thorough analysis of the condition of this management and taking measures adequate to the analysis results;
- introduce a functionality to the Database on Products, Packaging and Waste Management ensuring current, reliable and effective monitoring of the waste oil market.
To the Chief Inspector for Environmental Protection to ensure effective supervision over waste oil management by organising and coordinating audits reaching beyond provinces and covering entities which produce and manage waste oils.
