INTRODUCTION

Approximately 2 million end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) arise in the UK each year.  There are two broad categories of ELVs; relatively new cars which result from accident write-offs, known as premature ELVs and cars which have reached the end of their life naturally or natural ELVs. Natural ELVs often arise due to MOT failures and have an average life of around 12 to 13 years.

BACKGROUND

The End of Life Vehicles Directive

EC Directive 2000/53 required member states to introduce legislation to lessen the environmental impact and promote the recovery and recycling of end of life vehicles.  The Directive had several  objectives:

• To place restrictions on the use of heavy metals in new vehicles or components.
  
• Ensure that hazardous materials are removed before a vehicle is dismantled.
• Require treatment facilities to issue a Certificate of Destruction to the last holder
• Prescribe minimum technical standards for storage and treatment sites
• Ensure treatment facilities  hold a permit for de-pollution activities
• Introduce targets for the recovery of End of Life Vehicles
• Require producers to meet "all or a significant part" of the costs for treatment of negative or nil value vehicles.

The Directive required Member States to target two categories of vehicle, which had been identified as a priority waste stream;  Passenger vehicles with up to eight seats plus the driver and light goods vehicles up to 3.75 tonnes unladen weight.

The End of Life Vehicles Regulations 2003

Stage 1 of the implementation of the Directive in the UK was achieved when the Government introduced the End of Life Vehicles Regulations 2003. The Regulations comprised 50 Sections arranged in 7 parts, and 5 Schedules. The sting in the tail came in Section 50, where the Government applied the requirements for treatment and keeping to waste motor vehicles of all types, not just the two categories specified in the Directive. The justification for this being that all types of motor vehicles caused a significant risk of pollution of the environment during the dismantling process.

The layout of the Regulations is described below:

• Part I.  General. Commencement dates and extent. For England and Wales all parts came in to effect on  3rd November 2003.   States that an end of life vehicle is a vehicle which is waste within the meaning of the Waste Framework Directive. ie the vehicle has to constitute  "Directive waste"  meaning it has to be discarded, intended to be discarded or required to be discarded.  
  
• Part II. Application.  The Regulations apply to new vehicles and end of life vehicles and their materials and components, irrespective of how the vehicle is serviced or repaired.
  
• Part III.  Design requirements.  Producers  (= manufacturers or a professional importer into Member State) to ensure that materials and components of new vehicles put on the  market do not contain lead, mercury, cadmium or Chromium (VI) except in cases listed in Schedule 1.  For example, lead in wheel balance weights to be phased out for vehicles (type approved before 1st July 2003) or for servicing such vehicles by 1st July 2005.  Permitted hazardous components to be labelled.
  
• Part IV.  Information requirements.  Producers must use standard component codes to identify any parts, which contain plastics or rubbers to facilitate recycling.  Dismantling information must be produced to identify different materials and location of permitted hazardous components. Must be provided within 6 months of the launch onto the market of a new vehicle.
  
• Part V.  Certificates of destruction.   When an authorised treatment facility accepts delivery of an ELV it must issue a Certificate of Destruction to the  last owner or holder.  Free of Charge.
  
• Part VI.  Delivery of End of Life Vehicle to a treatment facility.    For new vehicles put on the market on or after 1st July 2002, which have no market value. An authorised treatment facility which accepts delivery of  an end of life vehicle shall not charge the last  owner or holder  if the vehicle has no market value. The  producer shall reimburse the treatment facility for any costs incurred in these circumstances.  Exception if the vehicle does not contain essential components or other waste has been added.
  
• Part VII.  Keeping and treatment of waste motor vehicles.  Automatic modification of  existing waste management licences which authorise keeping or treatment of waste vehicles to include technical requirements in Schedule 5.  Modification of  Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, such that Paragraph 45 exemption only applies to vehicles which have been  depolluted.  Sites carrying out treatment to remove pollutants must hold a site licence (a form of waste management licence). Transitional arrangement for existing Paragraph 45 holders who apply for a site licence  before 1st February 2004 allowed to continue to operate until the application is determined.  Specific fee for applications to convert to a site licence in these circumstances.    Regulation 50 confirms that Part VII and Schedule 5 only, applies to all waste motor vehicles, not just the 2 categories of vehicles specified by ELV Directive.

Schedule 5 specifies Conditions to be included in site licences, and obligations in respect of keeping and treating waste motor vehicles.  Storage, even temporarily, of any waste motor vehicle prior to treatment only at a site which has impermeable pavement and a sealed drainage system.  Treatment sites to provide impermeable pavement and sealed drainage system in "appropriate areas" and provide storage tanks for the separate segregated storage of fluids. Appropriate storage facilities for dismantled spare parts, including impermeable storage for spare parts contaminated with oil.

Depollution to consist of:

• Removal of battery
• Removal of LPG tank
• Removal or activation of explosive devices-airbags and pre-tensioners
• Removal and separate storage of
  • Fuel
  • Motor oil
  • Transmission oil
  • Gearbox oil
  • Hydraulic oil
  • Cooling liquids
  • Anti-freeze
  • Brake fluids
  • Air conditioning fluids

Except where fluid is retained to allow reuse of the part.

To promote recycling, no treatment shall prevent the removal of catalysts, tyres,  large plastic components , glass or metal components containing copper, aluminium and magnesium.

Other activities affected by the Regulations

Accident and breakdown recovery operators will be bound by the requirements of the Regulations (and other waste legislation such as Duty of Care and Carrier Registration) whenever they deal with waste vehicles.  We have to remember that we are dealing with the definition of waste contained in the Waste Framework Directive-i.e. an object, which is discarded, intended to be discarded or required to be discarded. A vehicle is usually discarded when the decision is taken that the vehicle is to be destroyed. Thus, in most cases a damaged vehicle is not likely to become waste until a decision is taken that it will not be repaired, but will be destroyed or dismantled.  Usually, this is in the hands of Insurance company assessors. The storage requirements of impermeable pavements and sealed drainage systems come in to play as soon as a vehicle becomes waste.  There is the Paragraph 41 exemption from a waste management licence for storage of waste at the place where it is produced, available to cover such eventualities.

Stolen or abandoned vehicles generally do not become waste until the completion of the due process laid down by the Refuse Disposal Amenity Act or the Highways Act. Again, there are implications for the storage of vehicles as soon as they are discarded, for example in the storage compound when the decision is taken that the vehicle will be destroyed.  It is an option for the local authority to donate certain abandoned vehicles where the owner is not forthcoming, to the Fire Service for training purposes.  In this context the vehicle is not discarded as waste until the Fire Service have finished with it.

Negotiations with accident and breakdown recovery operators, Local Authorities and Police Authorities are taking place at national level.  There has also been discussion at local level with some Police Forces and their contracted recovery agents.

To quantify the abandoned car problem, nationally, recent evidence for 2002/2003 is that 221,000 vehicles were abandoned that survey year. This typically results in a cost of £360 per vehicle incurred by the local authority to arrange environmentally friendly disposal.

It is difficult to predict the impact that the ELV Regulations will have upon the abandoned vehicle problem, until the free take back  requirements for all end of life vehicles are implemented by DTI.  The British Vehicle Salvage Federation offered a "guesstimate"  of an increase to about 500,000 per year. The British Metals Recycling Association believed that the figure will probably appear to quadruple. 

Manufacturers are aware that they will have to provide three operational plans to cover the UK (possibly four if Wales opt for their own implementation programme, which appears unlikely at present).

Other useful links

Consortium of Automotive Recycling -CARE