Strategies for Meeting EU End-of-Life Vehicle Reuse/Recovery Targets

Abstract

Summary Disposal of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is a relatively new focus of the European policy community. Technical requirements for car design and minimum reuse and recovery rates for end-of-life vehicles are the subject of a recent European Union directive on ELVs. This directive is expected to induce changes in the infrastructure required for ELV processing, and presents a substantial challenge to maintaining such an infrastructure as economically viable. This paper assesses current and emerging ELV recycling technologies, in order to provide guidelines for the development of future ELV recycling strategies. Emphasis is given to technologies dedicated to automobile shredder residue (ASR) recovery, as an alternative/complement to more labor-intensive dismantling activities. The ultimate goal is to develop a vision of the type of ASR processing technology that could emerge in the future. The analysis is based on a model developed to simulate ELV processing infrastructures, and shredding data are taken from full-scale experiments. The results obtained show that ASR mechanical separation and recycling technologies may enable more extensive recycling and contribute to achieving European Union recycling targets, and can thus be considered as far more promising than technologies based on energy recovery.