Waste oil feedstock : publishing of a baseline study

Cyclevia is disclosing the results of its study to assess France’s waste oil feedstock. Conducted with the help of the In Extenso Innovation Croissance consultancy, this study updates the one carried out by the ADEME twenty years ago. By incorporating the evolution of uses, formulations and equipment over the past two decades, this document constitutes a new technical reference for the entire sector.

Conducted between November 2024 and September 2025, the study updates the emission coefficients and technical ratios used to estimate the collectable waste oil feedstock.

• The emission coefficient: enables us to account for oil losses during use linked to the nature of the product and how it’s used (partial consumption, evaporation, combustion, mechanical bond, etc);

• The technical ratio: enables us to account for end-of-life oil losses corresponding to the oil still present in equipment or products and which hasn’t been properly emptied (unused vehicles, decommissioned equipment, etc).

  
  

To conduct this study, Cyclevia drew on both the historic methodology from the 2004 study and the methodological guidelines put together by the ADEME in 2024. A vast investigation and business expertise effort was also undertaken for every oil category. The study covers all of France, including the overseas departments and territories, and integrates the evolution in uses, lubricant formulations and equipment during the past twenty years.

The works conducted show that the global collected waste oil coefficient has decreased from 68 % to 62 % today. The study consequently estimates the waste oil volume able to be collected in France at 234 000 tonnes (240 000 tonnes were collected in 2024).

These results confirm both the relevance of historic estimates, and the good understanding of how the French sector operates, whilst simultaneously integrating the technological and industrial evolutions observed during the past two decades.

Discover the study