T he 5
th International Automobile Recycling
Congress (IARC), which took place last month
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, attracted some
200 delegates from 29 countries. Although most of
them were from Europe, with Germany topping the
list on 40 delegates, the event also drew visitors
from North, Central and South America, Australia,
South Africa and Asia. For the first time, there
was also a delegation from China.
In Europe, some tough years lie ahead for the
car recycling chain. On June 1 this year, the EU
Landfill Directive will come into force, effective-
ly banning the landfilling of automotive shred-
der residues. For January 1 next year, the EU
End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (ELV Directive)
sets a re-use and recovery target of 85% and a
re-use and recycling target of 80%. For January
1 2015, the re-use and recovery target will have risen
to 95% and the re-use and recycling target to 85%.
Many of those involved in the car recycling chain
question whether these targets can be achieved
unless incineration of car shredder residues is cate-
gorised as (thermal) recycling.
Binding targets
The first IARC keynote speaker was Timo Mäkelä,
Director of Sustainable Development and Integration
at the European Commission. He stressed once again
that EU directives were only binding with respect to
the results to be achieved, but that member states
were free to choose the forms and methods via which
they reached these goals. All member states appear to
have transposed the obligations enshrined within the
ELV Directive into national law, although five coun-
tries are still to send details of their transposition
measures to the Commission.
In January 2005, the EU published a Guidance
Document on the ELV Directive which, although
not legally binding, explains the basis on which the
EU Commission will commence infringement cases
against member states. The document deals with
issues such as the scope of application of the ELV
Directive, the scope of heavy metal bans, the scope
of the free take-back principle, and the relationship
between the heavy metal bans of the ELV Directive
and the RoHS Directive.
Car manufacturer’s view
Willy Tomboy, Environmental Officer of the
Environmental Affairs Group of Toyota Motor
C A R R E C Y C L I N G
Recycling International • April 2005 38
To legislate oWhile all those involved in Europe’s car recycling chain are strug-
gling with issues such as high recycling targets and the forth-
coming ban on landfi l l ing automotive shredder residues, it
emerged at the latest International Automobile Recycling
Congress that car dismantlers in North America and Australia are
able to operate without a similar legislative burden.
During the networking dinner,
a group of Brazilian dancers
entertained IARC delegates.
By Manfred Beck
