When the EC Directive on end-of-life vehicles (2000/53/EC) was published, it was recognised that, to improve the recyclability rates of end-of-life vehicles, it was necessary to ensure that vehicle manufacturers took recyclabilty into account during the design and development of their new vehicles. To this end, 2000/53/EC included provisions requiring that demonstrating vehicle recyclability be included as part of the type approval process for new vehicles.
After many years of discussion and negotiation between the European Commission and vehicle manufacturers, the relevant type approval requirements for reusability, recyclability and recoverability have now been published as 2005/64/EC. This new directive applies to M1 and N1 category vehicles (i.e. passenger cars and light goods vehicles) and requires them to be at least 85% reusable and/or recyclable, and at least 95% reusable and/or recoverable by mass (Note: Recoverability differs from recyclability, as it includes energy recovery, i.e. the incineration of combustible waste to generate energy). To demonstrate compliance with these requirements, the vehicle manufacturer must follow a two stage process:
- In the first stage, called the preliminary assessment, the vehicle manufacturer must demonstrate that they have suitable processes in place to gather and collate information from their suppliers concerning the precise masses and types of materials used in the vehicle's construction, and that they have a strategy for the dismantling and recycling of their products.
- In the second stage, the approval authority chooses reference vehicles from within the vehicle range, and the vehicle manufacturer must demonstrate that each reference vehicle is capable of meeting the specified recycling rates, using the calculation methods specified in ISO 22628:2002.
With regard to the reuse of components from end-of-life vehicles, the directive contains a list of components which are deemed to be non-reusable, for safety and/or environmental reasons. This list includes components such as airbags, safety belts and catalytic converters.
Compliance with this new directive becomes mandatory for all new types of vehicle from 15/12/2008, and to all new vehicles from 15/07/2010.