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

23.2 Where Has the Policy Been Applied and Why?
23.2.1 Europe
National policies have been applied in all European countries following the
implementation of the EU ELV Directive, which came into force in 2000. 495 Member
States were obliged to implement national policies by 2002. The directive was to: 496
432
� Ensure that all ELVs are only treated by authorised dismantlers;
� Provide free take-back of all ELVs for new vehicles put on the market after
2002; from 2007 provide free take-back for all vehicles including those put on
market before 2002;
� Restrict the use of heavy metals in vehicles from July 2003; and
� Ensure that a minimum of 85% of vehicles are reused or recovered (including
energy recovery) and at least 80% are reused or recycled from 2006 These
rates increase to 95% and 85%, respectively, by 2015.
It also requires the 'de-pollution' of vehicles before being recycled. This involves
extracting petrol, diesel, brake fluid, engine oil, antifreeze, batteries, airbags, mercurybearing
components and catalysts.
The scope of the Directive includes cars with no more than 8 seats and goods
vehicles less than 3.5t only.
A small number of well administered countries with early experience of operating a
highly regulated system of car disposal have been able to implement the Directive
relatively smoothly. 497 The Netherlands and Sweden are good examples in this
respect, with Sweden having enacted its first vehicle scrappage law in 1975 and
implemented producer responsibility from 1998. Many, however, have experienced
significant difficulties, delays and setbacks in implementing the Directive. Reflecting
this, the Commission has taken some form of legal action against most of the EU-15
Member States in relation to this Directive, in particular for late implementation. The
EU-10, new Member States, have also experienced additional problems. Some
examples are given in Section 23.12.
23.2.2 Asia
Policies have also been applied in Japan, Korea and China. However, the data and
evaluation of these policies is less thorough than in the EU. These countries,
especially Korea, have historically had large car manufacturing industries that have
495 The End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive (2000/53/EC).
496 A. Doran (2003) POLICY DISCUSSION: End of Life Vehicle Directive (ELV), Policy discussion by Andy
Doran from LARAC, http://www.larac.org.uk/pdf/elvbrief.pdf
497 M. Fergusson and IEEP (2006) End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive: An assessment of the current
state of implementation by member states, Report for The European Parliament: Policy Department
Economic and Scientific Policy.
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