Waste oil collector Slicker Recycling Ltd. acquired competitor Oil Monster for an undisclosed sum in mid-May. The purchase further strengthens Slicker’s position as the United Kingdom’s leading waste oil collector.
An estimated 200,000 metric tons per year of waste lubricant is collected in the U.K. annually. However, 100,000 tons is unaccounted for, according to Waste Connect. It is likely dumped illegally, posing a grave threat to the environment.
Slicker collects and recycles 75 million liters (67,000 metric tons) of used oil and hazardous workshop waste annually, capturing a market share of more than 20%, a Slicker spokesperson told Lube Report. This will increase with the acquisition of Oil Monster’s team of 13 people and fleet of 10 trucks.
The purchase of Oil Monster, based in Chester, U.K., is part of Slicker’s expansion over the past two years. In August 2022, the company acquired Cleveland Industrial Recycling, a high-voltage metals recycler based in Ohio in the United States.
The previous November, Slicker bought out Hydrodec, which collects and hydrotreats used transformer and naphthenic oils in Canton, Ohio.
In 2020, Slicker opened a joint-venture base oil rerefinery, with Avista AG, Europe’s largest rerefiner of waste lubricant. The plant, located in Kalundborg, Denmark, cost U.S.$87.5 million and has capacity to produce 70,000 tons per year of API Group I base oil.
As part of the Oil Monster deal, the business, which Slicker Recycling has acquired from Cleansing Service Group Ltd., will retain its brand identity.