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A U T O M O T I V E
remain some challenges. ‘Traceability is one of
them. A certificate of destruction (COD) should
become the rule rather than the exception. Then
there is the enforcement problem. There is une-
ven enforcement across the EU. We have to react
against non-authorised treatment facilities and
create a level playing field for authorised oper-
ators. And we should aim for an integrated
approach of post-shredder technology.’
According to Jonnaert the car recycling industry
needs an integrated approach. ‘Recycling targets
should be balanced versus targets which are set
to reduce the bigger environmental footprint of
vehicles during use. That is an LCA approach.
Furthermore, we need to explore more cost-ef-
ficient ways to integrate waste streams across the
sectors and we need to take into account cost and
economic factors besides environmental factors.’
‘We should now focus on addressing the real
opportunities,’ Jonnaert told the audience. ‘We
need a fully functioning traceability system, effec-
tive enforcement across all EU member states and
embrace an integrated approach,’ he concluded.
ELV Directive needs reviewing
Speaking on behalf of German recycling com-
pany the Scholz Group, Beate Kummer also
criticised illegal exports of ELVs. ‘We still do
not know what happens to around 1.4 million
end-of-life vehicles from Germany each year,
she said. Kummer has a body of evidence from
Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia proving
that end-of-life vehicles are being illegally dis-
posed of.
These facts are seriously discouraging
for would-be investors in the recycling industry
as they mean lower calculable input for recy-
cling companies, which they need in order to
invest in treatment plants and equipment.
The Scholz Group itself operates a treatment
plant for shredder residues from end-of-life
vehicle recycling in Espenhain near Leipzig in
Germany and has invested some 60 million
euro in end-of-life vehicle treatment technol-
ogy since 1991.
As a result, Scholz is one of the companies reli-
ably meeting the 95% recycling rate prescribed
by the ELV Directive since the beginning of
2015. Nevertheless, the problem remains that
although experts estimate the number of end-
of-life vehicles generated in Germany at around
1 to 1.5 million per year, less than half of this
number are actually being recycled within the
country. For this reason, the European ELV
Directive urgently needs reviewing, warned
Beate Kummer in Berlin.
The Scholz spokeswoman also sees a necessity
to define the terms ‘end-of-life vehicle’ and
‘used car’ more exactly. Furthermore, she says
the burden of proof should be reversed. ‘In
future, exporters should have to prove that the
goods being exported are used cars and not
end-of-life vehicles’, she said. ‘Until now, cus-
toms officers have had the burden of proof.’
Moreover, Scholz is calling for additional reg-
ulations in order to better record end-of-life
cars within the EU.
Mexico struggles with imported cars
While Europe is worrying about the huge numbers
of used cars and ELVs that disappear from the EU,
Mexico has problems with imports of second-hand
vehicles, according to Dr María Hortensia Lacayo
Ojeda and Dr Jorge Armando Juárez González of
the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-
Unam in Mexico.
The automotive industry is a key sector for Mexican
economy. The world’s leading automotive companies
are established in this country, in a total of eighteen
production complexes located in eleven Mexican
regions. It is ranked at the eighth place in world total
automobile production and it is the second largest
automobile producer in Latin America.
Mexico is the fourth automobile exporter in the
world; most of the vehicle production of this coun-
try is exported mainly to the United States because
there is an economic integration between Mexico
and the USA.
Mexico was bound to permit ten or more year
old used vehicles imports in 2009, due to the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the age
of used vehicle imports will be reduced each year.
In 2019, Mexico will not be able to impose any
restriction to second hand vehicle imports from the
United States or Canada. These treaty conditions
and a Presidential Decree issued in August 2005
have stimulated second hand vehicle imports since
2005. These imports have reached up to 1,8 million
used vehicles, representing 149% of domestic
market in 2006.
As a result, the Mexican government was forced
to establish regulatory measures in order to avoid
used vehicle imports sharp increase from the
United States. The used vehicle imports increase
has caused the vehicle fleet aging from 15 years
in 2008 to 17 year in 2012 in Mexico.
This age increase of vehicles results in a growth of
the number of ELV that need to be recycled. But
the country does not have enough recycling oper-
ations to manage all the ELVs generated every year.
This situation causes some environmental impacts
due to the lack of infrastructure and regulation for
vehicle recycling.
There is the lack of infrastructure for vehicle
decontamination and therefore the operational
fluids are, in many cases, discharged into sewer-
age systems or spilled on the ground in many
cases. There are also CFC gas emissions from air
conditioning and cooler systems when ELV recy-
cling is taking place because there is a lack of
standardisation and control of the operations dur-
ing vehicle dismantling.
There are enterprises, car repair workshops and
junkyards who stock cars and sell their parts grad-
ually as the buyers demand them, with no care in
handling ELVs.
The Mexican government will have to establish
some political measures in order to improve the
ELV recycling process in Mexico. In addition to the
above, the second hand market represents a
strong competition to the domestic new car
market in Mexico.
Used car imports from the United States have
sharply increased since 2005, when a presidential
decree established facilities for ten or more years
old vehicle imports from the United States.
‘In future, exporters
should have to prove
that the goods
being exported are
used cars and not
end-of-life vehicles.’
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