Ahead of the meeting, which will also be attended by other interested groups, the British Metals Recycling Association, with the support of the Motor Vehicle Dismantlers Association, has put forward proposals for a vehicle recycling scheme with marked similarities to the way the packaging waste regulations operate. The proposal is also close to the first of the government’s three suggested options for an ELV system. The ELV legislation is of crucial importance to most BMRA members because they take in nearly all vehicles for recycling at shredder plants.
Among the BMRA’s suggestions (which it has dubbed option “1a”) are that there should be “service providers” who would channel funds for vehicle recycling, organise record keeping and be the link between manufacturers, shredder operators and smaller and medium size scrap metal businesses. BMRA director general David Hulse said: “We would expect five or six service providers – I think in the packaging world the 17 or so compliance schemes is too many.”
Set sum
And, the metals association also suggests that there be a PRN (packaging waste recovery note) type approach to the evidence needed, as Mr Hulse explained. “We would have a set sum of money paid for the recycling of each car. If the base were 40 for example, London could be 50 and Scotland 30. There would be a provision to flex the charge according to the circumstances that prevail. It is PRN-like in a way, and would be set periodically by parties coming together. Processing costs and the material extraction cost would be relatively stable unless there is new technology which drove prices down.”
Mr Hulse said that market prices for removing specific materials is a secondary issue, but will kick in for 2007. “Later on, more likely from 2004, we will have to recycle some additional materials and money to help pay for that will have to come from somewhere.”
The vehicle manufacturers have been quick to distance themselves from “option 1a”, arguing that there is a fundamental difference in the BMRA approach and the packaging waste system.
Steve Franklin, ELV officer at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, pointed out that in the packaging waste system material is targeted on an annual basis. In contrast the BMRA approach, which is based on Option 1 in the government’s consultation paper, implies an obligation on manufacturers to contribute to the recycling of all ELVs in the future, in effect all vehicles on the roads today.
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