UK “well placed” to meet future ELV targets

Final figures published by the Department confirm that the UK as a whole failed to reach the 85% reuse and recovery target for 2006, the first target year under the European end-of-life vehicle (ELV) Directive.

And, 59% of the 960 independent car dismantlers in the UK who are have responsibility for meeting their own 85% target also failed to reach that goal in 2006.

However, despite this, and concerns over the UK's post-shredder capacity for recycling non-metals that is vital to boosting ELV recycling levels further (see letsrecycle.com story), a spokeswoman for BERR was confident about the UK's future prospects.

She said: “We believe that the UK has a robust framework in place to deliver the requirements of the ELV Directive.”

“We know that shredding companies in particular are investing in technologies to recover more of the glass and plastics from automotive shredder residue. As a result, we are well placed to meet targets moving forward,” she added.

Performance

BERR's figures for the UK's performance against the first set of EU end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling, reuse and energy recovery targets in 2006 indicated that, as had been expected, the UK narrowly missed its target of 85%, only managing to reach 83.53%.

And, the spokeswoman said that: “Some 41% of uncontracted ATFs met or exceeded the 85% target while the remaining 59% failed to hit the target.”

The UK's failure to meet its national target comes despite it being revealed in April 2008 that car manufacturers had met their 85% recycling obligations via one of two service providers – Autogreen and Cartakeback (see letsrecycle.com story) which provide a network of approximately 260 car dismantlers (known as authorised treatment facilities, ATFs) nationwide.

The spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com that it was still not clear whether any action would be taken by the EU against the UK for not reaching the 85% goal.

“In advance of the Commission reporting, this is not yet clear,” she explained. “However, we know of only a few Member States that have expressed certainty of meeting the 85% target.”

Networks

BERR also confirmed that, as well as helping manufacturers to reach their 2006 targets, those ATFs that operate within the service providers' networks also met the 85% goal in 2006 for any “non-contracted” brands that they handled.

But, the vast majority of the UK's ATFs are not members of either service providers' network and it was their less impressive performance that led to the UK missing its national target.

However, while BERR wrote to all ATFs warning them that missing the 85% target was “a criminal offence punishable by a fine” (see letsrecycle.com story), it is thought unlikely that the Department will take punitive measures against those who missed their targets in the first year.

Priority

The Department spokeswoman explained that its priority would now be to target those dismantlers – thought to total around 186 – who did not submit any figures for 2006.

“In terms of prosecutions, BERR intends to target first those ATFs that have not responded to the Department in any shape or form in relation to the 2006 targets,” she said.

And, she added that “significant effort” was being made to raising awareness among ATFs of the targets, in the shape of written guidance, telephone or face-to-face contact and via trade associations.

She also highlighted the “intensified” levels of enforcement work that had been undertaken by the Environment Agency in the past year to target unlicensed ELV activity – with as many as half of the cars scrapped in the UK last year not passing through the ATF system (see letsrecycle.com story).

Outlining the action taken by the Agency, she explained: “A small project group has been established within the Agency on the problems posed by illegal ELV activity.

“The overall remit of this project is: to raise the profile and importance of ELV enforcement work within the regions/areas and industry; refocus enforcement effort on higher-risk ELV activities (e.g. dismantling ELVs rather than minor storage of vehicles); improve consistency of regulation at licensed sites; deliver, in conjunction with area staff, ELV related campaigns in identified areas and, use intelligence-led, targeted campaigns against illegal ELV operations.”

Recycled

BERR figures show that, in 2006, 970,582 tonnes of ELVs were passed through the UK system, of which 799,585 tonnes was recycled, reused or recovered, with the vast majority (669,702 tonnes) ferrous scrap metal that was shredded for recycling, while 58,235 tonnes of non-ferrous metals was also shredded for recycling.

Reuse and recovery both represented very minor aspects of the UK's total performance in 2006, with reuse of spare parts and part-worn tyres only contributing 12,944 tonnes and energy recovery – which is mainly accounted for by chipped tyres being used in cement kilns – totalling 13,519 tonnes.

Technology

The BERR spokeswoman highlighted the development of post-shredder technology and the Agency's enforcement work as justification for BERR's assessment that it was “expecting better for 2007”.

However, the exact picture for the year is not expected to be made public for some time. She said: “Officials are still in the process of collecting the figures from ATFs – there are still considerable numbers with outstanding information.

“As such, it is likely to be towards the end of this year before we have a sensible idea on 2007 figures,” she added.