From the scrapyard to the ELV center: when the old car becomes a global resource

Abstract

This article focuses on the structuring  of the end-of-life vehicle processing and recycling (ELV processing) sector in France. First, it traces the emergence  and the structuring of scrapyards. It then analyses the gradual introduction of regulations aimed at curbing informality in the sector, and at promoting the development of a  circular economy. Scrapyards, which have now become “ELV recycling centers”, are gradually absorbed into a capitalist and highly technical  apparatus, in the name of a “green economy”. The article proposes to  discuss the value of end-of-life  vehicles, which are often considered as a source of pollution and waste, but  can also be a source of parts and materials, at the intersection of  national and transnational formal and informal circulations.