When it comes to cars, the end can lead to new beginnings – if they are treated correctly. As the EU updates its rules for vehicles, from design to disposal, Roberta Arbinolo and Fynn Hauschke look into the measures we need to make the treatment of end-of-life vehicles more circular.
What happens to cars when they won’t drive anymore? The EU is working at making their fate more circular, with a new law on vehicle design and end-of-life management.
Vehicles are among the largest products we use – second only to buildings – and are packed with valuable materials. This makes the automotive industry a pivotal player in saving resources and curbing carbon emissions.
EU institutions are discussing a proposal to revise and merge two outdated EU laws (the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive and the 3R Type-Approval Directive) into a single regulation on vehicle design and end-of-life management. The new law is meant to strengthen the EU single market, while improving the circularity of the automotive sector and reducing the environmental impacts associated with the design, production, use, and end-of-life treatment of vehicles, following a whole life cycle approach. But will it be fit for this purpose?
At the moment, its ambition is at stake. This week, Europe’s Environment Ministers failed to remedy several missed opportunities in the Commission’s initial proposal, and voted to weaken key provisions, bowing to pressure from the automotive industry. All eyes are now on the European Parliament, which will hold its first vote on the proposal in July.
End-of-life matters
End-of-life treatment is just one among many factors that can help increase circularity and sustainability in the automotive sector.
First of all, to address the unstainable material use of the sector, we need fewer vehicles on the road, and we need those vehicles to be smaller – reverting the ongoing trend towards ever larger cars. Downsizing vehicles is the most effective way of reducing the demand for critical materials and reducing import dependencies. Regrettably, the current proposal neglects both these aspects.
In addition, ecodesign requirements are key to ensure that vehicles on the EU market are designed to be as reusable and repairable as possible, and to increase the recoverability of parts and materials. However, the proposal still favours recycling over the preferable strategies of reuse and repair, which aim to extend the lifespan of products before the recycling phase.
Yet, the way we manage vehicles once they become waste is also an important part of the picture. For instance, adequate dismantling of end-of-life vehicles is key to allow the reuse of components and recycling of materials.
Dismantling is key
Earlier this year, industry and civil society organisations joined voices to demand better measures to enhance the reuse of parts and the high-quality recycling of materials from end-of-life vehicles.
These steps are essential to reduce the environmental impact of the automotive sector and strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy through the availability of secondary raw materials. Notably, the new law should ease both the reuse of parts and components and high-quality recycling of materials, by setting respective ecodesign requirements, expanding existing requirements for pre-shredding disassembly and dismantling, and introducing quality targets for recycling output.
Holding producers accountable
To ensure that recycling businesses – who are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises – are adequately compensated for the modern collection and treatment of end-of-life vehicles, and are not left alone to bear increasing recycling costs, industries and NGOs have also been calling for robust Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.
The necessity for EPR schemes that hold car producers accountable for the impacts of their products was made even clearer by the recently exposed anti-recycling cartel, that will cost 15 major manufacturers and their association ACEA a €458 million fine.
Moreover, EPR systems must support waste management costs also when used vehicles are exported beyond EU borders. At the moment, EPR fees are too often kept in exporting countries, depriving importing countries of the adequate financial support to manage the vehicles once they inevitably reach their end-of-life. This way, the EU delegates the waste management of the exported vehicles while retaining the fees meant to pay for it. A study published by the EEB shows how detrimental this can be for importing countries.
New lives for recycled plastics and steel
A key measure to boost vehicle recycling is requiring a minimum share of recycled materials to be included in new cars.
Ambitious targets for recycled content would increase the circularity of the automotive sector, by bridging design and end-of-life vehicle treatment while driving demand for circular and low-carbon materials. This is why waste management and recycling industries, automotive suppliers and NGOs are calling on EU legislators to uphold the 25% recycled plastic content in new vehicles proposed by the European Commission.
The same is true for steel, which is the most widely used material in cars and trucks, and the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in vehicle manufacturing.
Back in April, two studies highlighting the potential of recycled steel in the automotive industry – and the opportunity to boost it under the new law – were presented to the European Parliament, in an event organised by the European Environmental Bureau and partners, in collaboration with MEP Lena Schilling.
The first study, by the Institut Mobilités en Transition (IMT), shows that targeted dismantling of vehicles makes it possible to recover valuable copper and improve recycled steel quality, making it suitable for new car production. Currently, most of the steel extracted from vehicles is downcycled for applications in other fields, namely construction. The approach tested by IMT, instead, creates value across the entire supply chain and promotes a more sustainable and circular steel usage.
The second study, conducted by Oeko-Institut for T&E, found that setting recycled steel content targets of 30% by 2030 and 40% by 2035 is possible and desirable. Such targets would help slash emissions and support recycled materials markets – two good reasons to consider them under the new EU regulation.
Civil society organisations, think thanks and recycling industries are therefore also urging lawmakers to adopt adequate targets to boost the uptake of recycled steel in automotive production.
Steering towards circularity
Planning for the end of life is important – and with cars, burying the problem won’t make it go away. The automotive sector has major environmental impacts, but also an enormous potential to make a difference.
With the upcoming regulation on vehicle design and end-of-life management, EU legislators can steer the sector on a circular path. Fixing the way cars are treated after disposal is a key part of that journey.