The original ELV Directive stipulated that, from January 2006, 80% of a vehicle must be retrieved for recycling while another 5% must be collected and used in energy-recovery process. In light of increased demand in the car industry along with the expansion of the European Union, these targets rose to 85% for recycling plus an additional 10% for energy recovery.
To achieve this, the legislation stipulated a number of operations in order to promote recycling: the removal of catalysts, metal components containing copper, aluminium and magnesium, tires and large plastic components (e.g. bumpers and dashboards) and finally glass. Indeed, this part of the legislation has galvanized a growth in the trade of recycled goods.
Still, the fact remains that these are particularly ambitious targets, and therefore there is much debate within the car waste management industry as to how they can be met in EU member states. For example, whilst the UK government gives a 1% allowance for the recovery of fuel, with other fluids, tires and batteries taking this figure up to approximately 5%, there is still a 5% shortfall in the 85% target.
After metals, the next biggest constituent part of a vehicle is plastic and this is the next targeted product. However, whilst recycling technologies for metal are well developed, there are few proven cost-effective technologies for plastic. Of the EU member states, the Netherlands is one for the few countries where the 85% rate is being achieved, mainly due to a national scheme that was set up to help subsidize the further recycling of vehicles. However, such funds may be politically unpalatable in many EU states, especially given the current state of many countries’ finances, so the growth of the international trade in recycled products could be the best way to foster competition and develop the technology further.
One of the indirect effects of the EU Directive has been to boost the trade in recycled products from vehicles. Ferrous metals are in big demand in China and Taiwan and other scrap metals are being traded within Europe. The use of arc furnaces addresses the issue of reusing steel and fatigued metal , by strengthening it before it re-enters the manufacturing process. tiresElectric arc furnaces are significantly more efficient than conventional oxygen furnaces, so there is less impact as they don’t burn fossil fuels, as well as having less impact in terms of resource extraction needed to make steel from scratch. Export markets are also opening up for non-ferrous metals such as aluminum.
The trade in other materials that can be recovered from used cars is yet to take off, however there is significant potential in tires. As well as simply being re-moulded into new tires, they can be used as carpet underlay. The cement industry in the UK has been a significant beneficiary of the used tire market, where they use the metal residue in tires for production purposes.
Sending shredded tires to landfills is now banned in the UK. This should act as a catalyst for opening up more markets for the estimated 60,000 tonnes of shredded car tires per year in the UK.
Reference: http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/…/waste07-annex-c2.pdf
There is a growing imperative to expand and improve the technology to recycle used engine oil. The process currently requires the removal of any water, additional filtering to remove solids and additives, de-asphalting to remove any bituminous content and finally, distillation. Whilst this may appear to be an exhaustive and energy intensive process, the US Environmental Protection Agency have argued that re-refining used oil uses approximately one third the energy of refining crude oil to lubricant quality (Source: greenlivingtips.com) In addition, it takes 42 gallons of crude oil, but only one gallon of used oil to produce half a gallon of new, high quality lubricating oil that can be used in car engines.
Reference: http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/usedoil/
With current unrest in North Africa and the Middle East pushing up the price of crude oil, coupled with the growing uneasiness oil companies are experiencing with the extraction of crude oil from remote and difficult locations, the timing seems right to push this aspect of vehicle recycling.