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

In addition to the benefits associated with a reduction in heavy metals the depollution
of vehicles before dismantling provides additional environmental benefits. These
processes are all required by law in the countries that have implemented ELV polices
and are best practice (though not necessarily widespread) in those that have not i.e.
America. These processes prevent the following hazardous materials / products from
causing environmental damage: 512
439
� Batteries;
� Explosive components of airbags;
� Oils, cooling liquids, anti-freeze and other liquids; and
� Any parts containing mercury, cadmium etc.
23.5.2 Recycling
A main aim of all the ELV policies considered in this report is to increase reuse,
recycling and recovery rates. This section will firstly describe the processes involved in
the treatment system (including some narrative on post-shredder technologies),
describe the benefits of increased recycling and recovery of materials from ELVs,
highlight how the targets – and the policies in general – can be measured, and finally
indicate constraints to the recycling of ELVs in terms of the markets for recyclable
materials.
Figure 23-1 highlights the treatment processes involved in the management of ELVs.
As can be seen, reuse and reprocessing from the depollution of the vehicle at an ATF
is the first step involved. Further reuse of materials occurs when the vehicle is
dismantled. This dismantling process has been simplified due to component coding
standards and knowledge exchange promoted by the policies (See Section 23.7).
Recycling of materials can occur from the following steps:
� Initial dismantling of the vehicle;
� Recovery of metals when the vehicle body is processed in an automotive
shredder; and
� Further separation of materials from the automotive shredder residue (ASR) -
otherwise known as flock or fluff. For example, plastics separation using near
infrared technology.
In the EU, baseline recycling and reuse rates are around 80%, and can be obtained
with little additional technology being implemented. The majority of this figure
comprises of metals recycling (this level was occurring before the implementation of
the policy because of the high price of recycled metals) with the remainder of the
Economic and Scientific Policy,
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/envi/pdf/externalexpertise/end_of_life_vehicles.pdf
512 US Commercial Service (2006) International Market Insight, End-of-Life-Vehicles – EU Legislation,
Accessed 20 th October 2008, http://www.buyusa.gov/auto/end_of_life_vehicles_eu_design.html
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes