Many major issues remain to be resolved and while a recent consultation document talks of manufacturers paying a significant proportion of costs, there is still no clear indication of what significant might turn out to mean.
Work is now underway in a variety of organisations to prepare responses to the Department of Trade and Industry’s recent consultation paper on how the UK might deal with End of Life Vehicles under EU legislation.
Those involved in the debate are currently reluctant to make any formal comments on what might actually happen under the directive in the UK. The strongest comments have come from the car manufacturers through the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders which sounded off against the consultation paper. It describes this as appearing to show “that our government is content to burden manufacturers in this country further with a costly and totally impractical liability as soon as next year”.
“We are both disappointed and angry that the government appears to have completely ignored the concerns of the UK's largest manufacturing sector,” said SMMT chief executive Christopher MacGowan.
He added: “The French and German governments have made it clear that they intend to follow the letter of the Directive, with manufacturers responsible for meeting cost-free take back of all cars on the road, no sooner than 2007. But this consultation seems to show that our government is content to burden manufacturers in this country further with a costly and totally impractical liability as soon as next year. The consultation does not say why and it just doesn't make any sense.”
Concern
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) is concerned to ensure that the costs faced by its members, which could be about 40,000 to put in depolluting facilities, are met. And, the extra concreting needed by some yards is also an issue to be resolved. David Hulse, director general of the BMRA, said: “The document raises more questions than answers and we need to leave time available to understand its implications.”
Derek Wilkins, ELV coordinator for European Metals Recycling, which is the largest shredder of ELVs in the UK, said: “EMR welcomes this much-delayed consultation paper. We hope it will pave the way for an improved vehicle recycling system utilising the existing dismantling and shredding sectors, which have already achieved reuse and recycling rates of over 70%.
“Unfortunately it is still not clear who will fund the increased costs for
the treatment of vehicles in the period from 2002 to 2007. As such it is
difficult to see how the dismantling and recycling sectors can plan the
necessary investment in plant and equipment to depollute vehicles and boost
recycling rates for non-metallics.”
The argument currently centres on who should meet the costs of vehicle recycling when the legislation comes into force in January 2002. Manufacturers are trying to put back their liability for their products until 2007 but it seems that the government better recognises the fact that legislation comes into force next year and that under producer responsibility, manufacturers should pay something.
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