ACEA

Recycling of vehicles, a complex challenge

Some 8 million vehicles are recycled annually in the EU-15 countries. The actual waste from those "end-of-life vehicles" (ELV) accounts only for about 1% of total waste across the EU Member States. This is due to the fact that parts are reused and a high content of the materials is recycled or recovered.

Car recycling was introduced in the late 1950s and is a profitable business carried out by small and medium sized businesses all over Europe. The ELV directive 2000/53/EC published in 2000 defined new standards for recycling and product design. The automotive industry fully supports the idea of sustainable utilisation of end-of-life vehicles. However, due to the variety of materials and substances used in modern vehicles, recycling has become a major challenge.

Taking into account recent developments, latest scientific evidence and the experience gained by the automotive industry in the implementation process at national level, some of the outlined requirements of the relevant directive are questionable. Overall the current ELV Directive is seen by the industry as bureaucratic, inflexible, partly contradictory to other environmental regulations and too costly without generating the necessary environmental wins. The industry has, therefore, suggested using the ELV Directive as a sample case for simplification of regulation.

While the reuse and recovery rate of 85% as from 1st January 2006 onwards seems realistic, the 2015 target of 95% is problematic. In particular, the high share of 85% (material) recycling may hinder a sustainable product design while it is doubtful that this target can improve the environmental impact of the product in all life-cycle stages. ACEA is glad being selected by the Commission as co-chair of a stakeholder platform for the revision of the recycling targets and hopes that this discussion will lead to a target definition that facilitates sustainable product design.

Recycling remains a high priority for the EU, for Member States and for manufacturers. ACEA's members are strongly committed to help facilitate further progress on ELV recycling and find sustainable solutions subject to seeing both a parallel commitment from the other involved parties and the establishment of a coherent financial framework. ACEA advocates taking a holistic approach that facilitates the sustainable design of products.

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