The introduction of the equipment over the next six weeks will mark the upgrade of 41 vehicle de-pollution and recycling centres. According to EMR the new systems will give the capacity to de-pollute over 200,000 vehicles received directly from the last owner. EMR handles over 1 million vehicles a year, about half the vehicles recycled in the UK.
Crow Environmental charges between 45,000 and 48,000 for a “fully compliant” system. The equipment can be operated by one man, and the company said the average time taken to de-pollute a vehicle is 15 minutes, dependant on whether the wheels have been removed beforehand.
Bill Baird, sales manager at Crow Environmental, said: “For us EMR were the ones to aim for. There are many smaller companies, but with over 40 sites to upgrade we knew we had to get them.”
The pollution system, which Crow Environmental launched in May this year, provides all of the systems for extracting fluids from an end of life vehicle. It uses a hydraulic lift to gain access to all parts of the vehicle, allowing operatives to easily remove the battery, engine bay fluids, wheels, catalytic converter and the under body fluids. The entire process of de-pollution can be completed at one station, the company said.
Following the Environmental Agency's declaration in July that end of life vehicles should be completely depolluted before shredding if shredder residue is to be considered non-hazardous, vehicle shredders have to install de-pollution equipment by November 2004 if they want to take in vehicles that have not already been treated.
The Environmental Agency issued a protocol saying that vehicle shredder waste would not be considered hazardous before the November deadline, as long as a minimum of hazardous components were removed. After the deadline the waste will only be seen as non-hazardous if the ELVs have been de-polluted “in accordance with the DTI/Defra de-pollution guidance” (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting after the Crow Environmental deal, EMR's development director Graeme Carus said: “We are completely confident that the equipment supplied by Crow Environmental will meet the required standards and be fully operational by November 1.”
However, experts in the sector suggest that the Environment Agency will have to extend the November deadline because industry may not be ready in time.
Subscribe for free