UK cannot cope with 2 million ELVs, BVSF warns

Although the motor industry believes the UK recycling rate for ELVs is edging towards the 80% mark, salvage firms have said that this figure does not represent the recycling of all 2 million cars that come to the end of their natural lives each year.

The BVSF, which represents over 85% of the vehicle salvage business in the UK, was giving evidence to Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee yesterday. The committee is looking into the government's implementation of the ELV Directive as well as the directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Under the terms of the ELV Directive, the UK must ensure that 80% of ELVs are recycled by 2006 and 85% by 2015. But, while the figure for the UK at the moment is generally accepted to be around 75%, this does not represent the de-pollution of all ELVs to Directive standards.

Speaking on behalf of the BVSF, the managing director of Essex-based HBC Vehicle Services, Dick Smith, told MPs that at the moment most salvage firms send most vehicles for shredding without de-polluting to directive standards, and therefore the 75% to 80% recycling rate does not apply to all 2 million ELVs in the UK.

Mr Smith said: “What we have here is not necessarily the de-pollution of those being recycled, but those that are simply being junked. If 200,000 vehicles are being recycled to the standards at the moment, there is no way we can cope with 2 million vehicles.”

Mr Smith revealed that his own salvage firm, one of the largest in the UK, has not yet invested to reach the new ELV treatment standards, as it cannot balance the required investments with guaranteed returns on those investments.

Licences
The HBC Vehicle Services managing director told the EFRA Committee that in order to meet the new treatment standards, firms formerly exempt from waste management licences would now need licences. But, in order to apply for licences, firms needed planning permission, and this was difficult, partly because of the poor perception of salvage firms by nearby residents.

Mr Smith said: “My own company is fully licensed, but we fought hard to get those licences. It took me 18 months and a trip to the House of Lords to get it. Getting a licence cost 1 million of public money and cost us 100,000, but the government is saying that other salvage firms will only have until February 2004 to get these licences. It's totally impractical.”

Also speaking on behalf of the BVSF, Geoffrey Bridges of salvage firm GW Bridges warned that the number of abandoned vehicles – about 340,000 a year at present – was likely to double after February 2004. This was because the government had made last owners responsible for ELVs until 2007, he said, and costs were likely to be at least 50 to 60 a vehicle.

Clarity
While the BVSF fully supports the environmental aims of the ELV Directive, its chairman Alan Greenouff said that there are still concerns over the lack of clarity in the new regulations.

New hazardous waste regulations are to designate ELVs that have not been de-polluted as being hazardous. But, the government had not made it clear at what point a vehicle actually becomes hazardous.

Mr Greenouff told MPs: “If it is going to be in the hazardous waste legislation that a vehicle that has been abandoned is hazardous waste then it presents immense problems for my colleagues because then they have to deal with hazardous waste.”