New vehicle recycling regulations make producers pay

The long-awaited End of Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005 were finally laid before Parliament last night.

”By ensuring that more cans and vans are recycled through convenient take-back facilities, these regulations will benefit the environment. “
– Mike O&#39B;rien, DTI
The new regulations come into force on March 3, 16 months after the DTI brought in the first half of the Directive – the ELV Regulation 2003 – which introduced treatment and storage standards for vehicle recycling.

The final piece of legislation implementing the Directive introduces the “Own Marque” system of producer responsibility for cars and light vans.

Under this system, vehicle manufacturers are responsible for forming their own networks of Authorised Treatment Facilities – recyclers that meet the conditions of the ELV Regulations 2003 – to recycle ELVs with no value that are of the manufacturers' own brands. Take back services for ELVs under the regulations are to be run at no cost to last owners.

Commenting on the new regulations, energy minister Mike O&#39B;rien said: “About two million cars and vans are scrapped each year in the UK. By ensuring that more are recycled through convenient take-back facilities, these regulations will benefit the environment and ought to be good news for car owners.”

Requirements
The regulations require manufacturers to set up ATF networks by 2006 and meet their full producer responsibility obligations for all ELVs from January 2007 onwards.

Over 2.2 million vehicles come to the end of their lives in the UK each year. Through their contracted ATF networks, manufacturers will have to reach recycling targets for these vehicles – 85% recovery by weight and 80% recycling from 2006 to the end of 2014, and 95% recovery and 85% recycling from 2015.

Uncontracted ATFs
Controversially, ATFs that do not win contracts with manufacturers to fund the de-pollution and recycling of vehicles will also have to reach these recovery and recycling targets. This has been seen by recyclers as an unreasonable demand, since they see the Directive prioritising producer responsibility.

But, in what is seen by the metal recycling sector as a concession, uncontracted ATFs can charge last owners for taking in vehicles.

While the terms of the Directive are met in that the manufacturers' networks are to be of adequate capacity to provide any last owner with a free take-back service, last owners will be allowed to pay for take back services if there is an uncontracted ATF in a more convenient location for that last owner, experts believe.

In short, this means that, for example, if an ELV owner did not want to drive 10 miles to the nearest contracted ATF for the vehicle to be received free of charge, the driver could take the ELV to an uncontracted ATF locally and pay a fee for getting rid of the car.

Guidance notes on the new ELV regulations will be available from the DTI before March 3. The full regulations will be made available on the HM Stationery Office website soon.