International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

22.0 Producer Responsibility, ELVs - Ireland
22.1 Outline of Policy
An end of life vehicle (or ELV) is a car or light commercial vehicle, which is to be
disposed of by the registered owner (in other words, a car or small van which is to be
scrapped) as waste. Vehicles normally reach the end of their useful lives, either due
to age (typically around 12-14 years), or because of heavy damage following an
accident. Therefore, there is no fixed age at which a vehicle can be considered an
ELV. The European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC 471 on End of Life
Vehicles (known hereafter as the ‘ELV Directive’) sets out specific measures to be put
in place by Member States in relation to the collection, storage, treatment,
dismantling, reuse, recycling and disposal of ELVs. Under the ELV Directive, each
Member State is required to:
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� Achieve new recovery and recycling targets of 85% reuse/recovery by average
weight per vehicle deposited for appropriate treatment by 1 January 2006 (to
include 80% materials recycling), and 95% reuse/recovery by 1 January 2015
(to include 85% materials recycling);
� Ensure that all ELVs are dismantled, treated and recovered by industry at no
extra cost to the final holder/owner of that vehicle and in a manner that does
not cause environmental pollution;
� Introduce new systems whereby certificates of destruction (CoD) are notified to
the competent vehicle registration authorities on the deposit of ELVs by their
registered owners at authorised treatment facilities (ATFs) for appropriate
treatment and recovery; and
� Minimise the use of specified hazardous substances in vehicles.
The ELV Directive was transposed into Irish law on the 8 June 2006 through the
Waste Management (End of Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006 472 (known hereafter as
the ELV Regulations). The ELV Regulations place obligations on producers to establish
national collection systems for the recovery and treatment of ELVs and require
treatment facilities to meet specific environmental standards. A producer covers not
only any vehicle manufacturer located in Ireland but extends to “any person” who
imports vehicles into the state. As no vehicles are built in Ireland, it follows that the
obligations for compliance with the legislation fall on vehicle importers. The producer
is required to develop a network of treatment facilities that is ‘reasonably’ accessible
to all and that can meet the demand associated with that producer’s ELVs. Each
producer is required to develop a national collection system consisting of one ATFin
every city and council area where the population of the functional area is less than or
471 European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC on End of Life Vehicles.
472 S.I. No. 282 of 2006, Waste Management (End of Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes