Green Oil Technology

Green Oil chain lube's award winning formula contains advanced long-chain molecules to reduce friction.

These polymers also repel water molecules.

This inhibits rust and corrosion, prolonging the chain's mechanical life.

Green Oil's bottle is a thermoplastic. It can therefore be repeatedly softened by heating and hardened again on cooling. This means it can be repeatedly recycled.

Our packaging has recycling code '2'. We went to great lengths to ensure the labels is also made of the same plastic type to ensure it is recycleable.

The cap is unfortunately made of polypropylene. This is plastic type 5 and not usual recyclable.
Green Oil bottles are made out of HDPE, or 'High Density Polyethylene', with the recycling code 2 shown above. This is the same plastic as that used in milk bottles.

Most councils take these away for recycling. If your council recycles plastic milk bottles, it will recycle Green Oil bottles.

Each Green Oil bottle has a recycled paper label. This can be removed, and recycled again, possibly into a new Green Oil label!

Re-use is better than recycling. See the Environment page for more information on our bottle deposit scheme and environmental initiatives:

How Green Oil is produced

Green Oil's formula is a trade secret, a patent application currently being completed.

Green Oil is manufactured from naturally occurring plant extracts, a blend of which produces a high performance lubricant. Green Oil contains no animal derivatives.

Green Oil's components are balanced to give a high-performance lubricant that stays on the chain.

Green Oil protects from rust and gives a smooth, low friction ride.

Our other products also use natural ingredients. Green Clean and Clean Chain use citrus and cocnut oil extracts to clean powerful, yet naturally.

Not Irritant or Hazardous

Other lubes contain chemicals which are harmful to your skin. Green Oil is different, without compromising performance. The Green Oil range is proudly not Irritant or Hazardous.

Other lubes contain PTFE, also referred to as 'Teflon'. This material produced by DuPont is used for frying pans and other cookware. The chemical is put into chain lube to supposedly reduce friction.

However, perfluorooctanoic acid, a compound used to make Teflon is a likely carcinogen. Teflon production in the USA was subject to a $300 million lawsuit in 2004, as a result of ground water pollution in Ohio and West Virginia. The Ecologist Magazine have a Look Behind the Label feature on chain lube.

Green Oil does not contain petrochemical components, or Teflon. Subsequently, it is not irritant or hazardous, and is not dangerous for the environment.

Not based on Petrochemicals

Most chain lubes rely on crude oil extraction. Crude oil is refined through a process called cracking. This shortens the long chain molecules known as 'polymers', producing shorter polymers producing a thinner oil.

Petrochemical or 'mineral' oil based lubricants are harmful for the environment when they leave the chain (all chain lube, even Green Oil eventually leaves the chain be it over time or from the bike being cleaned).

Petrochemical lubes are not biodegradable or environmentally friendly, despite what you may hear. 'CFC-Free' these lubes may be, but this is meaningless as all CFCs were banned in 1995 under the Montreal Protocol.

Oil extraction has environmental problems of its own. From Nigeria, to British Columbia, oil extraction causes, and threatens to cause misery for people and the environment. Middle Eastern problems, with state support for apartheid Israel, Saudi Arabia and the mess in Iraq, where the Oil Ministry was secured before anything else, are down to the politics of oil, and our demand for it. Chain lube is a small part of the oil industry, but every little helps.

The annual spillage crude oil is 8 million barrels.

Unlike rival chain lubricants, Green Oil does not therefore contain any petrochemicals, nor does any of the Green Oil range.

Other products

The whole green oil ranges uses natural ingredients, and the range is biodegradable. Even the EcoSponge is made from plant based material and is bio degradable.

Green Clean and Clean Chain degreaser use powerful plant extracts, including citrus extracts and detergent derived from natural coconut oil. Whilst other cleaners may be biodegradable, ours are also naturally soured.

No Palm Oil

Palm oil is a base used in shampoos, peanut butter and increasingly bio-fuels.

Palm oil comes from palm oil plantations.

Rainforest is being destroyed to create palm oil plantations.

Indigenous people and orangutans live in these rainforests, so lose their home due to palm oil.

The Green Oil range therefore contains no palm oil.

The Green Oil range will always be palm oil free. Ingredients are sustainably sourced where possible, and many of our ingredients are certified organic.

See the Friends of the Earth website for more information on palm oil.