End-of-life vehicle regulation in Germany and Europe
: problems and perspectives ; Discussion paper of the project Autoteile per Mausklick financed by the QUATRO-Programme
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Title:
End-of-life vehicle regulation in Germany and Europe
:
problems and perspectives ; Discussion paper of the project Autoteile per Mausklick financed by the QUATRO-Programme
Description:
Approximately 9 million end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are currently being discarded each year in Europe with around 25 percent going to landfill. Several voluntary programmes have already been established by car manufacturers. But hardly any of these meets the recovery percentages proposed by German and European directives. The recent initiatives to change the regulation of ELVs in Europe are marked by different and mainly opposing demands of the various stakeholders concerning the effects of an environment-friendly policy. The main question is how to organize a management shared between regulation by laws and directives and voluntary agreements introduced by the industry. Since 1998, a modernised infrastructure of receiving stations and recycling plants for ELVs has been established in Germany. Today, this network comprises approximately 1,400 accredited recycling plants and some 15,000 accredited receiving stations to ensure environment-friendly disposal of end-of-life vehicles. In the long run it can be expected that the automobile industry will take the opportunity to organize the whole system of recycling itself. But it is an open question whether central dismantling facilities will minimise costs in the short term and economise profitably in the long term. For this regional networks of certified car dismantling companies which are acting as contract partners of the car industry are an alternative solution. Re-used parts present an opportunity for the dismantling companies to compete directly with new car parts - something that can be realised even better with new Internet approaches and e-commerce activities. These challenges need a new framework which should be based on two fundamental issues: Firstly, a common understanding among the stakeholders facing material flow problems, economic performance and shared burden. Secondly, an effective ELV management system ensuring recycling, re-use and recovery for a high standard of quality and at reasonable costs to manufacturers and consumers. This not only generates a potential for better performance for the dismantling sector, but can in effect be of immense value to the stability of the whole ELV management system.