BMW Closes the Loop on Automotive Waste with Pentas Flora

BMW Group Malaysia recently commemorated their partnership with Pentas Flora in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing, held in conjunction with a roundtable discussion on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) hosted by the premium automaker.

Hans de Visser, Managing Director of BMW Group Malaysia says, “For us at BMW Group Malaysia, our vision for sustainability is clear. In all our efforts to mitigate climate change, we ensure our strategy is both Circular and Responsible – as we pursue a verifiable and consistent path towards climate neutrality by 2050.

In doing so, we drive forward the Group’s global ambition here with a local context, while inspiring more Malaysian industry leaders to place ESG at the forefront of their decision-making in 2023.”

Matthias Schlesiger, CEO of BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia adds, “As we progress towards a more sustainable approach in our business practices, we looked within our own ecosystem to identify likeminded innovators and visionaries who share the same ambition as we do – and Pentas Flora, a long-time customer of BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia, became an ideal sustainability partner.

“In 2021, we kickstarted an internal initiative with our local dealer network to give waste oils and lubricants collected from their service centres a second life as re-refined eco-base oils.”

Oon Kin Seng, Group Executive Director of Pentas Flora says, “This partnership is a meaningful one for us at Pentas Flora as we recognise the shared commitment between our organisations in championing sustainability and responsibility in our business processes, preserving the environment and ensuring that elements that can be harmful to the earth can be disposed in a responsible manner.

Ultimately, our work in managing scheduled waste for clients across industries by providing end-to-end solutions for hazardous waste management, is part of a larger vision to build a sustainable environment and a better future for all Malaysians and we are pleased to be able to drive its importance with a partner like BMW Group Malaysia.”

Over 30,000 litres of waste oils and lubricants have been collected from four participating BMW dealerships in the Klang Valley so far and sent for processing at Pentas Flora’s re-refinery plant in Banting to eventually be turned into re-refined eco base oil (EBO) that will be channelled back into the automotive sector once again.

Re-refined oil is a complex but highly reliable product that goes through vacuum distillation, pre-treatment processes such as sieving, dewatering, vacuum dehydration, short path distillation, and a variety of treatment processes to obtain a quality end-product comparable to virgin base oil.

As part of BMW Group Malaysia’s RE:GENERATE programme to adopt circularity within the organisation, this collaboration with Pentas Flora is a crucial first step to ensuring not only proper automotive waste management, but also a firm departure from the traditional linear approach to valuable resources.

The goal is to achieve 100% participation in repurposing used oils and lubricants from all BMW dealers nationwide, while also encouraging more industry players to pay closer attention to waste management, ensuring that waste is no longer carelessly deposited into landfills, incinerated, or illegally dumped.

The roundtable discussion on ESG by BMW Group Malaysia and Pentas Flora featured sustainability leaders from the public sector, alongside industry experts and innovators.

They shared insights on low-carbon practices and the voluntary carbon market, risks for ESG non-compliance, good governance for sustainable growth, as well as a necessary mindset shift amongst corporate Malaysia towards self-regulation in their sustainability efforts.