Around two million vehicles reach the end of their life in the UK
each year. Currently, between 74-80% of the weight of a typical ELV
is reused or recycled.
The End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) Directive (2000/53/EC) is
concerned with cars, vans and certain three-wheeled vehicles in the
following classes:
- passenger carrying vehicles up to 3500kg
- light goods vehicles up to 3500kg
- three-wheel motor vehicles (excluding
tricycles)
The main requirements of the Directive are to ensure
that:
- producers limit the use of certain hazardous substances in the
manufacture of new vehicles and automotive components and promote
the recyclability of their vehicles;
- ELVs are subject to de-pollution prior to dismantling,
recycling or disposal;
- treatment facilities operate to higher environmental standards
and have permits if they want to deal with undepolluted ELVs;
- certain recovery and recycling targets are met by 1 January
2006 and 1 January 2015; and
- producers pay ‘all or a significant part’ of the costs of
treating negative or nil value ELVs at treatment facilities from 1
January 2007.
As a result of this, owners must be able to have their complete
ELVs accepted by collection systems free of charge, even when the
ELV has a negative value. A further requirement is that the
last holder of any vehicle depolluted/dismantled is issued
with a Certificate of Destruction (CoD).
A CoD can only be issued by an Authorised Treatment Facility
(ATF), which is defined as a Licensed facility accepting waste
motor vehicles,and able to comply with the requirements of the ELV
regulations. The CoD ensures that the vehicle will be
treated/disposed of correctly and that it is deregistered by
DVLA.
Further information and a list of authorised sites is
available on the Environment Agency Website
Additional information is available on
the DEFRA
Website