The consultation, now expected in January 2004, will bring in new vehicle recycling targets as well as specifying arrangements for producer responsibility on all ELVs from January 2007.
Speaking to MPs in Westminster yesterday afternoon (15/12/03), ministers Elliot Morley and Stephen Timms insisted the government had intended to release the paper in January all along.
Trade minister Mr Timms said: “We are expecting to consult early in the New Year. That is what we were planning to do and that is what we will do. It has proved to be an extremely complex directive and it has certainly been difficult to get worked out. But there will be a preferred way forward in the consultation paper in January.”
But Department of Trade and Industry officials have admitted the consultation is being delayed to “tie up loose ends”.
Jonathan Startup, director of sustainable development at the DTI said: “We want to get it right rather than rush it… hence the delay in producing the current consultation.”
Shorter consultation
The ministers conceded that the late release of the consultation paper would lead to a shorter consultation period than is usual, as the new regulations are due to be laid down in Parliament in March 2004 to come into force in April 2004.
Mr Timms said: “There will probably be a slightly shorter round of consultation, because there have already been consultations on ELV regulations, but we hope to lay some regulations in March so I think that there will be plenty of time for people to get things in place.”
But because of the continued delay to the consultation – and a lack of guidance – some sections of the vehicle recycling sector have said they are unable so far to put in the investment needed to meet the terms of the directive. Although the industry now knows what the new ELV treatment and storage standards are, Neil Marshall of the British Metals Recycling Association warned that since no one knows how new contract arrangements with vehicle manufacturers will work, many recyclers cannot justify new investments.
Also giving evidence on behalf of the BMRA, Shane Mellor, managing director of Mellor Metals Ltd, said: “Going out of business is being made the preferred option (for smaller metals recyclers). How am I going to go to my bank manager and ask for 100,000 with no information on how I will get a return on that?”
Wait
Environment minister Elliot Morley surprised some by suggesting ELV businesses should not be investing in reaching the new treatment standards until March – after the February 1 deadline set by the Environment Agency for businesses to apply for new waste management licences.
Asked by Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell whether industry should be making investments to upgrade their sites since the consultation has been delayed and the full information on new regulations is unavailable, environment minister Elliot Morley said: “No. Things will be sorted out by March and they should wait 'til then.”
Supporting the ministers, DTI official Jonathan Startup dismissed fears of a “car mountain” resulting from a lack of investment in the vehicle recycling sector. Mr Startup suggested that there would be no problem in the UK since the vehicle recycling sector is “dominated by large businesses”. He added that since it would be the producers' responsibility to ensure an adequate network of dismantlers and recyclers, the UK was in no danger of failing to meet directive targets.
For more information on the UK's implementation of the ELV Directive, see the letsrecycle.com ELV section.
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