The government has recently started an intensive three-month consultation process in order to implement the European End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive into domestic law.
New regulations in the UK will mean dismantlers and scrapyards will have to be officially accredited as “authorised treatment facilities”, and will be obligated to depollute and dismantle ELVs to specified environmental standards.
Speaking at a meeting of the Parliamentary Sustainable Waste Group in Westminster, the minister said: “We see the Directive as providing an opportunity to close down those illegal operators that have been able over the years to undercut legitimate dismantling and scrapping businesses.”
He explained: “The illegal sector will not only need to obtain a permit from the Environment Agency, but also permission from the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency to issue Certificates of Destruction to trigger the electronic removal of an ELV from the vehicle register. And the “last owner” of the vehicle will most definitely want his CoD, especially with the planned introduction of continuous registration.
“I think that the Directive presents a real opportunity for the legal infrastructure,” the minister added.
ATFs
The system the government is currently working on will see vehicle manufacturers arranging their own networks of ATFs to provide a free take-back service for last owners of ELVs. These treatment facilities would be responsible for treating all ELVs of the brand of their contracted manufacturers.
However, the government said it would not rule out a role for independent ATFs. Registered businesses not under contract with specific manufacturers would still be able to treat vehicles if they saw a positive value that could be gained from doing so. But if vehicles were to be treated at independent ATFs, manufacturers would no longer be financially responsible for that treatment.
The DTI said once the free take-back system was up and running, it might reconsider the position of independent ATFs.
But dismantlers present at the PSWG meeting called such a promise a “smoke screen”. They see the “own marque” system of manufacturers setting up their own networks as providing no guarantees that dismantlers will be given contracts after 2007.
Investment
With no guarantees about future income, dismantlers and recyclers will find it difficult to invest in facilities needed to meet tougher environmental and treatment standards demanded by the Directive. Vehicle manufacturers will only be obligated to finance treatment of all ELVs from 2007 onwards, so until then any investment would need to come from the dismantlers and recyclers themselves.
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