The $65 million refinery, 500km north of Brisbane, was built to give new life to waste oil collected from truck fleets, heavy vehicle operators, mines and local governments across the country.

The re-refinery's operators Southern Oil Refining and J.J Richards & Sons said the milestone reflected growing industry appetite to embrace the highest standard of waste oil recycling.

"The beauty of lubricating oil is that it doesn't wear out, it just gets dirty and the additives in the oil lose effectiveness over time. But our re-refining process produces no waste – every component is reused and 99% of the lube oil component in the waste oil is recovered as high quality lube oil for re-use," Southern Oil managing director Tim Rose said.

"So once these 10 million litres have done their job lubricating the wheels of industry, they can be collected and sent back to the Northern Oil refinery to create a near perpetual cycle of use and re-use of a diminishing and finite resource."

Gladstone Region Mayor Gail Sellers said the refinery stood as a shining example of sustainable use of precious and finite resources.

"The Gladstone Region thrives on industry but this does not mean that it cannot continue to develop in a sustainable manner and measures such as the re-refining of lube oil help maintain the balance between progress and maintaining a healthy environment," Sellers said.

Member for Flynn Ken O'Dowd agreed: "The Northern Oil Refinery gives waste oil producers a home-grown environmental choice for their waste lube that underwrites a new industry and new jobs for Gladstone. It is a great example of two businesses combining their expertise and in doing so benefiting the environment and generating great economic opportunity.”