EU Scrap Vehicle Directive Will Shake Up Recycling

The European Union End-of-Life-Vehicle directive, imposed in October 2000, will have a significant impact on Europe’s recycling market, delegates at a secondary aluminium meeting said on Wednesday.

“Because car producers will have responsibility, they are in a position to determine ELV scrap flows,” Gunter Kirchner, Secretary-General of the Organisation of European Alumininium Refiners and Remelters (OEA) said.

Each year, some eight to 10 million tons of waste is generated from the vehicles discarded in the EU.

The directive is designed to manage this and from July 2002, car manufacturers will have to take back all ELVs produced after that date. From 2007 they will be responsible for all ELVs.

Currently, consumers have to pay for cars to be dismantled when they are returned at the end of their lives. In future costs will have to be absorbed by car manufacturers.

“Most ELVs have little or no value when they are returned, so they (car manufacturers) will be looking to get these costs back,” Kirchner said at the OEA’s Secondary Aluminium Congress.

It was unlikely they could impose extra costs when the car is purchased new. Instead they would look to take out materials of value more easily, he said.

Horst Shutze of metal merchants Grafenberg-Metall GmbH said this would prevent the market operating freely and openly.

Market May Become Less Open

“This directive will change the structure of the market. Processing will be carried out by the car manufacturers, which will result in a less open market,” Shutze said.

Carlo Nappa, General Manager of Alcan Aluminio S.p.A in Italy said car manufacturers would probably fight to get back valuable materials.

In future, car makers would have to design vehicles so that they would come back in a valuable form, said Werner Stelzer, board member of Swiss primary producer Alusuisse Schweizerische Aluminium AG, part of Alcan Aluminium Ltd.

Meanwhile, specialised companies will also be affected by the changes and requirements brought in by the ELV directive.

Bertrand Bony, General Manager of France’s CFF Recycling said there will be an upstream process that will take place before ELVs reach the shredder.

“We believe that this will involve the removal of parts, such as the engine bonnets,” Bony said.

Also, because of the cost of legislation, there will be a further trend towards consolidation and shrinkage in ELV dismantling firms. In Germany, there were some 5,000 dismantling firms a few years ago, but now there are 1,100, Kirchner said.

“All the requirements on small-to-medium size companies will make it difficult for them to survive,” he said.

Upper Recycling Targets May Be Hard To Attain

The ELV directive sets targets for recovery and the upper objective may be hard to achieve. By 2006, reuse and recovery must reach 85 percent by vehicle weight, rising to 95 percent by 2015.

“85 percent is OK — we are already at this level, but 95 percent will be difficult,” Bony said.

It becomes problematical when trying to trace the origin of aluminium in a shredder, said Bony, adding that some shredders would become subservient to car-makers.

Story by Martin Hayes. © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.