Vehicle recycling - the facts.
There were around 30 million motor vehicles in use within the UK in 2002. Every year, approximately 2 million new vehicles are registered and a similar number are scrapped.The average lifespan of a car is 13.5 years and in 2000, just over 2 million cars and vans reached the end of their useful lives, either because of old age or due to accident.
The 2003 European directive on end-of-life vehicles has been introduced to manage vehicle recycling in an environmentally friendly way, so that more material is recycled and less goes into landfill sites.
As car ownership continues to increase it is important that the proportion of each end-of-life vehicle (ELV) being recycled is maximised, so that the environmental impact is reduced.
The composition of a typical car has changed substantially in recent years. For example, ferrous metal content has decreased significantly as lighter, more fuel-efficient materials such as plastics are incorporated into vehicle design.
Why we should recycle.
The quantity of used vehicles that are not resold equates to over 2 million tonnes of material to be recovered or disposed of. 1.85 million cars are recycled every year in the UK, and approximately 80% of waste automotive materials (mainly metal) are recycled, with the remainder going to landfill.
It is estimated that up to 50% of the 20,000 tonnes of oil removed from vehicles by motorists is handled improperly. If oil finds its way into sewers and water courses it can cause significant contamination - one litre of waste oil is sufficient to contaminate one million litres of water and oil poured onto the ground will affect soil fertility.
Disposal of tyres has become increasingly difficult and has led to an increase in fly tipping. As well as being an eyesore, fly tipping of tyres costs a considerable amount to the taxpayer in recovery and subsequent recycling.
It is estimated that around 13 million stockpiled cars are currently being held in car dismantling sites. This equates to 50 million tyres.
It is thought that higher charges levied on producers for legal disposal, coupled with generation of more waste tyres because of stringent tread requirements are key causes of this. Recently, problems have arisen with collectors who are paid to collect and remove tyres for recycling purposes and who then merely dump or store the tyres with no intention of recycling them. Illegal disposal of tyres is seen as a serious offence with possible imprisonment and unlimited fines.
End of life vehicles (ELVs)
All vehicles should have an audit trail from 'cradle to grave' and Metro Metals will sort out all the paperwork for you, and ensure that your end-of-life vehicle has been disposed of correctly.
Metro Metals is contracted by several major vehicle manufacturers to accept end of life vehicles free of charge, in accordance with current legislation.
When you bring your end of life vehicle to Metro Metals, we will issue you with a certificate of destruction (COD) in return for your V5C registration document (log book).
As an authorised treatment facility, Metro Metals will ensure that your vehicle will be disposed of correctly.
Authorised Treatment Facilities (or ATFs) are sites which have been licensed by the Environment Agency in England & Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland or the Environment & Heritage Service in Northern Ireland, to de-pollute end of life vehicles to standards set by DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Only these sites are permitted to issue last owners with a DVLA Certificate of Destruction.
A Certificate of Destruction (CoD) is issued by the DVLA to prove that a vehicle has been scrapped in a lawful and environmentally sound manner. Without a CoD a last owner could be fined under new laws on continuous licensing.
Download a copy of the DVLA’s leaflet on the Certificate of Destruction here.
For more downloads and information on authorised treatment facilities and ELV (end of life vehicles) regulations, visit Cartakeback.co.uk
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