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

ecycling and reuse activity being attributed to products such as tyres, glass, and a
minimal quantity of plastics.
Figure 23-1: Treatment Process for ELVs
Source: GHK, and Bio Intelligence Service (2006) A study to examine the benefits of the End of Life
Vehicles Directive and the costs and benefits of a revision of the 2015 targets for recycling, re-use and
recovery under the ELV Directive, Final Report to DG Environment, May 2006,
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/pdf/study/final_report.pdf
Countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan, are finding that the marginal
cost of recycling rapidly increases above around 80% because of the labour costs
involved in separating the material from the vehicle body, especially plastics, which
comprise the majority of the material left after the metals, tyres and glass have been
recovered post dismantling. They are increasingly using post-shredder technologies to
mechanically recover additional material from the shredder residue. The norm is for
this residue to be landfilled, because the cost of landfilling is currently cheaper than
alternatives. Alternatively the residue can be recovered by thermal processes, but the
benefits are not deemed as great as if recyclable materials can be extracted first. Two
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