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

driven the reclamation industry to a much greater extent than other states in Asia /
Indonesia.
23.2.3 North America
Certain Canadian provinces have regulations in place, or planned, but it is reported
that there is minimal effect on waste prevention or recovery. 498 In Ontario there are
municipal by-laws to govern the motor recycling industry, although, consistent
monitoring of auto recycling sites (classed as ‘waste disposal sites’) is abysmal and a
relevant certificate of approval has not been issued since 1979. In British Columbia
there is a strong awareness of the issue and trade associations have helped devise a
strategy with preventing pollution in mind. Despite these efforts, the regulations have
not been enacted to date and there is no indication of when this may occur.
No federal ELV polices are in place in America. Instead the largest vehicle
manufacturers have formed vehicle recycling infrastructure partnerships, and actively
promote the correct recovery of ELVs as part of their corporate social responsibility
(CSR). In fact several of the large US companies quote the EU Directive and the ‘tough
targets’ they are helping EU dismantlers to achieve. Interestingly, change in the
design of vehicles to facilitate the recycling and recovery of materials by American
automotive manufacturers has been directly driven by their desire to sell vehicles in
the EU. This is because the legislation requires any vehicle manufacturer – whether
based in the EU or not – to contribute to the final cost of recovering their own models
of vehicles. Thus implementation of policy in one part of the world can have
significant implications for international markets around the globe.
23.2.4 Country-specific Characteristics: The Netherlands
There are around 8 million cars in the Netherlands, but only 0.4% of new cars sold in
2005 were manufactured domestically, with the majority being imported from
Germany and France. 499 Annual sales of new cars have been declining, reflecting an
increase in average life. There are no significant quantities of scrapped cars imported
or exported for dismantling.
The implementation of the Directive was actually inspired by the pre-existing Dutch
system that was developed by the main business organisations in the car industry.
The organisation ‘Auto Recycling Nederland’ (ARN) was previously established to
manage the ELV treatment system. Unlike other Member States, the system operates
by generating revenue from discreet fees levied on all new car registrations and used
to fund the unprofitable parts of certified car scrapping and recycling firms. The
system is fully self-financing, so it could be said that the car producers and importers
pay the cost of ELV management, but the cost will inevitably pass to the consumer.
498 1877 End of Life Vehicles.com (2008) Legislation, Accessed 15 th October 2008,
http://1877endoflifevehicles.com/legislation.cfm
499 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
433
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes