April 2005
Designing To Meet The Full Provisions For End-Of-Life Vehicles
Producer responsibility means producers throughout the supply chain taking responsibility for their products throughout their life, integrating, for example, "design for end of life". Can product design to meet the full provisions of legislation for End-of-Life Vehicles be the beginning of cost effective recycling or recovery?
End-of-life vehicles (ELVs) and waste electrical and electronic equipment are major targets of producer responsibility legislation responding to Directives from the EU.
According to Defra, around 2 million vehicles are scrapped in the UK every year.
Vehicle manufacturers and high tier suppliers are now familiar with the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive’s aims to both;
- limit waste from vehicles by promoting the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of end-of-life vehicles and their components, and,
- improve the environmental performance of all the operators involved in the vehicle lifecycle, especially those treating vehicles at end-of-life.
Lower tier suppliers within the automotive supply chain and other operators with a broader interest in the implementation of producer responsibility should take note of the full provisions of the ELV regulations, recently transposing Articles 5 and 7 of the ELV Directive into UK law.
The responses of vehicle manufacturers and the enablers for "design-for-end-of-life" throughout the supply chain, are key indicators of the potential success of implementing producer responsibility in this sector.
End-of-Life Vehicles Directive – Full Provisions in 2005 Regulations
The End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 came into effect on 3 November 2003, transposing into national law most of the Directive’s provisions, including the following related to design:
- Restrictions on the use of certain heavy metals in the manufacture of new vehicles;
- Requirements on marking certain components to aid recovery and recycling, and providing information to facilitate dismantling.
The UK has just transposed the remaining provisions relating to producer responsibility, Articles 5 and 7 of the ELV Directive, through the End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005.
Articles 5 and 7 require that: -
- Owners must be able to have their complete ELVs accepted by collection systems free of charge, even when they have a negative value, from 1 January 2007 at the latest;
- Producers (vehicle manufacturers or professional importers) must pay "all or a significant part" of the costs of take back and treatment for complete ELVs;
- Rising targets for reuse, recycling and recovery must be achieved. Economic operators must attain a reuse and recovery target of 85% by weight for all ELVs by 1 January 2006 and within this, a target of 80% for reuse and recycling, increasing to 95% recovery and 85% reuse & recycling in 2015.
Furthermore, under the regulations, 75% of last owners should be able to travel just ten miles to dispose of their vehicle, to alleviate the growing problem of dumped cars across the UK.
Vehicle Manufacturer’s Responses
Vehicle manufacturers are due to provide Producer Plans detailing contracting arrangements for recycling their ELVs by 1 July 2005 in order for sufficient capacity to be in place to deal with all ELVs by 1 January 2006.
Ford has put in place a plan to take back old vehicles and dispose of them in an environmentally responsible manner by signing an agreement with Cartakeback.
This provides customers of its UK brands – Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, Aston Martin and Mazda – with a free take back service across all regions. Cartakeback is a subsidiary of the UK Shredders consortium.
Vauxhall and Saab GB have signed a ten-year agreement with Autogreen to provide a free service for owners who wish to dispose of their cars. Autogreen has 50 approved treatment facilities in place across the UK, with a further increase planned during 2005.
Other carmakers are expected to announce similar plans in the coming weeks, ahead of the July deadline.
The larger vehicle manufacturers have already spent millions of pounds to design cars for ease of recycling. This will enable the authorised treatment facilities (ATFs) to recycle materials and resell parts, mitigating the operating costs of the take back scheme.
Design for End of Life – Through the Supply Chain
Automotive suppliers will be able to shop for an increasing range of recyclates from ATFs. They are also likely to see costs fall as available volumes and logistical solutions increase.
In addition to the initial choice of materials, details in "design for end-of-life" go beyond design for disassembly. Working through the supply chain can ease the process of;
- material identification on parts using ISO standard coding,
- declaration of component and sub-assembly composition, through the International Material Data System,
- enabling material compatibility in sub-assemblies for recycling,
- material separation through revising bonding and fastening; making dismantling processes more cost effective,
- evaluation of environmental impacts to appreciate priorities for lifecycle performance
- identification of parts and part histories providing potential for reuse or remanufacture without compromising performance, e.g. safety.
DRIVENet and AutoTrain CoDesign are schemes tackling the communication of possibilities and priorities through the automotive supply chain to make such measures cost effective, especially for manufacturing SMEs.
Within AutoTrain CoDesign, the ‘Design and Development for the Environment’ programme for automotive suppliers in the West Midlands provides introductory training sessions, development workshops, online training materials and checklists – free for qualifying SMEs.
The portal promoting and serving participants in the programme may be seen at http://codesign.proenviro.co.uk.
If you are interested to discuss how the AutoTrain CoDesign programme in the West Midlands might improve your business' capability through a visit, or would like further information, contact Steve Stones at Pro Enviro Ltd.
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