The vehicle depollution rig has been installed ahead of implementation of the end-of-life vehicles directive which comes into force next April. Under the directive, vehicles will have to be depolluted at “authorised treatment facilities” before they can be recycled. The directive states that by 2015 the re-use and recovery target increases to 95% with a minimum of 85% re-use and recycling. Currently between 73-75% of the materials in an ELV are recycled. It is expected that half the UK facilities that currently deal with end-of-life vehicles will have to close as a result of depollution regulations. ACORD, the industry association for vehicle recycling, estimates that 1.8 million cars reach the end of their lives in the UK each year.
EMR has spent about 200,000 on the facility which includes two rigs which cost around 40,000 each. Each rig will be able to depollute one car every 20 minutes or about 12,000 vehicles a year. The depollution rigs are housed in an 18x14m building which has an impermeable surface and intercepted drainage. Until subsidies from manufacturers or the government are introduced, EMR expects to lose money on each vehicle it depollutes.
End-of-life vehicles are received from insurance companies and the public and the facility will drain all liquids including petrol, engine oil, brake fluid and antifreeze. These liquids will be stored in sealed containers on site and will be safely disposed of or recycled.
Derek Wilkins, EMR’s end-of-life vehicles co-ordinator, said: “The legislation brings major changes for the whole of the dismantling industry – scrap yards will become a thing of the pastif they do not invest in improved
facilities to comply with the directive.”
He added: “EMR hopes that being among the first to move into vehicle depollution will give us a commercial advantage in the long-run. The project will enable us to gather important information relating to vehicle arisings and the potential for achieving higher recycling rates.”
Once the vehicles have been depolluted they will be shredded at EMR’s shredder facility at Willesden which recycles more than 175,000 end-of-life vehicles a year. The shredder recovers more than 75% of the constituent materials of a vehicle – primarily light iron – at 5 -10% of the energy used to extract and process virgin ores. EMR is also conducting trials to recycle higher proportions of glass and polymers from vehicles.
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