260 delegates from the auto recycling community gathered in Antwerp, Belgium, between the 19th and 21st of June to participate in the 23rd International Automotive Recycling Congress (IARC).
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Endorsed by His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium, the event started with keynote speaker Alison Jones, Senior Vice President of Global Circular Economy, Stellantis, who provided insight into their approach towards sustainability and how they wish to work with others to improve know-how (design-to-recycling, better understand value chain), optimize value from waste streams, access Secondary Raw Materials, contribute to carbon reduction and be compliant with Extended Producer Responsibility.
When asked if there should be just one universal EPR scheme in each Member State, she replied that Stellantis is used to dealing with different countries for vehicle approval, so she had no issue dealing with individual countries’ EPR schemes. However, she did provide a message to the regulators not to overcomplicate matters and make it practical.
Progress and Challenges in ELV Regulation
Following Alison was Werner Annaert, General Director, Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM), Belgium, who provided a summary of the progress of the ELV regulation over the last six months as the country held the EU Council presidency, creating three working bodies plus an overview of the current ELV operations in Belgium, concluding like Alison, if the goals were to be achieved, collaboration was imperative.
The second session of the day focussed on the ELV Regulation proposal, beginning with Mr Jaco Huisman, Policy Officer – End-of-Life Vehicles from the European Commission, who provided a progress report on the current status of the ELV regulation proposal and implications resulting from the recent EU elections but remained hopeful about there being no significant delays.
Manufacturers’ Perspectives on Sustainability
Providing a manufacturer perspective, Timo Unger, Manager of Sustainability & Environmental Affairs from Hyundai, provided an honest reflection on the Regulation and focus on some of the trade-offs that may have to be considered to attain holistic sustainability and that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. He also discussed the challenges that manufacturers face, especially regarding competition law, and stated that no crystal ball is forecasting the future of recycling technologies.
Insights on Circularity in the Automotive Industry
Next, Aled Walker, Strategy Partner and Automotive leader and Dr Maarten Dubois, Director of Circular Economy from Deloitte, looked at circularity in the automotive industry, discussing its maturity and growth opportunities and drivers and opportunities for EV battery recycling, mentioning how each year, 15 million cars enter the European market with 290 million vehicles in use and 10 million being scrapped representing a massive opportunity for circularity and although automotive stakeholders operate a broad spectrum of circular models, only a few are mature. They then described how they are currently working with the Global Battery Alliance and provided some exclusive statistics, which will be ready to be published later in the year.
Debates on Removal vs. Shredding
After lunch, the whole session was focused on the options of removal versus shredding. Timo Unger was again onstage, this time representing ACEA. He provided thoughts on the current draft ELV regulations summary of dismantling/ removal duties, summarizing that removal obligations for components are a good idea if the technical feasibility, economic viability, proportionality and alignment with the European Green Deal’s objectives are proven and that a requirement for mandatory manual dismantling should only be specified if the desired goals cannot be achieved otherwise and in principle, the best available technology should be used on each recycling process.
Technological Innovations in Shredding
Next, Vincent Quidousse, BST Belgium Scrap Terminal, Belgium, took the stage to talk about shredder technology, including the potential implications for operational efficiency and environmental impact if there is an obligation on waste management operators conducting shredding of ELV so as not to mix ELV, their parts, components, and materials with packaging waste and WEEE.
Recyclers’ Viewpoints and Concerns
Representing Automotive Recyclers, Henk Jan Nix, General Secretary of the European Group Automotive Recyclers Associations (EGARA), provided many viewpoints towards the proposal. Regarding the mandatory removal of parts, he suggested that the costs should be compensated and that the proposed cost allocation is too complex. When it came to ‘parts not for reuse’, he suggested skipping the whole section. He also questioned when would be the correct time to issue a CoD (Certificate of Destruction), and at present, the producer information needed to be more detailed.
Impact of Economic and Social Factors on Auto Recycling
Marco di Vaio, from Motortecno and a board member of ADA, the Italian ATF (Authorized Treatment Facility) Association, gave a snapshot of the current history of auto recycling in the country and highlighted that current economic and social factors are affecting how the public buy vehicles and the effect it may have on the sector on the years plus the investment that ATFs will have to make to accommodate the new regulations in the current environment.
Patrick Davison, Mayer Environmental (EMR Group), opened his presentation by announcing, ‘If you’re only thinking about recycling at the end of life, it’s already too late.’ He also used the analogy that recycling a car can feel a lot like trying to ‘unbake a cake’ as it’s complex once the parts are all ‘baked’ together. Regarding EPR, the push and pull factors are out of balance.
Jaco Huisman from the EU Commission returned to the stage to discuss the various approaches towards shredding, outlining what was new in the proposed Regulation, including reuse incentives, the labelling and warranty of removed parts for shipment for reuse and repair offers with reused remanufactured or refurbished part. He also mentioned the restriction imposed to mix ELV waste with WEEE and packaging waste and the ban on landfilling untreated non-inert fractions 30% material recycling target for plastics with the main of the proposal to improve treatment quality in technology, location and the age of the vehicle in a neutral manner.
Future Outlook on Plastics in Vehicles
The day’s final session looked at the targets and outlook for plastics in vehicles. Nacef Tazi from the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), explained that the purpose of the JRC is to provide independent, evidence-based knowledge and science, supporting EU policies to positively impact society. He went on to discuss the impact of plastic recycling in conjunction with the ELV Regulation proposal, what the targets could look like within the definitions of the criteria set, the opportunities, including integrating circularity in the design of vehicles, and the challenges facing it, mentioning traceability and certification, amongst others.
John Mortell from Plastics Europe followed Nacef and reported that the balance in the European Parliament has changed; there are now two possible/feasible majorities, a grand-coalition or Centre-right + conservative-right with no realistic left-wing/green majority and how unpredictability may become the norm with possible implications for environmental policy. He then provided an update on EU plastic regulations mentioning how the last five years have seen a wave of European legislation impacting all uses of plastics and how open and closed loops and roles for Bio-based and CCU-based plastics will be required for feedstock and mechanical, physical and chemical recycling technologies all being needed. He concluded by adding that Plastics Europe supports the Commission targets, but there was a need to adjust the legislative discussions, and it was key that all technologies be recognised with innovation in bio/ccu-based material along with high (but realistic) targets and asked what about the green industrial transition and if there would be legislative support for this.
The final speaker of the day, still on the topic of plastics, was Thorsten Friedrich from ARN Auto Recycling, who outlined the different approaches towards vehicle recycling before and since 2015 and, how it has adapted and how refinery of the recycling hierarchy. He also stated the need for both mechanical recycling and chemical recycling plus more, including depolymerization recycling, pyrolysis and gasification. His closing remarks included how new legislation pushes innovation and demand, ‘don’t break stuff unless you have to’, how there will be a need for all kinds of recycling techniques and a need for dismantling and shredding and something in between.
Second Day Keynote and Port of Antwerp’s Role
The second day’s opening address was from Kirsti Gjertsen, who works at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. She stated that the port was the largest in the world for the import and export of cars, with 3,560,000 new cars in 2023 and 300,000 second hand vehicles. She then went on to explain the services that the port offers and the role they play in the circular economy, quoting her CEO Jaques Vandermeiren: “As a world port, we want to play a pioneering role in the transition to a circular economy both within or own organisation, on the port platform and beyond.”
The first session of the day concentrated on the ELV Regulation proposal and the opinion of stakeholders. Jean-Philippe Hermine from the Institut Mobilités en Transition/Iddri and Olivier Gaudeau from INDRA Automobile Recycling in France, introduced their joint project to the audience and the potential of deep-dismantling to decarbonize automotive steel using ELV steel scrap. They highlighted the increasing commitment from OEMs to develop a circularity index & reduce environmental impact & dependency on (critical or not) raw materials for resource efficiency and competitiveness. They asked if it is relevant to maintain and use post-consumer scraps in the EU, which today are exported and recycled, limiting the need to produce crude steel in developing countries, would the EU and EU industries benefit from circularity, and would it be best to avoid over-capacities and non-necessary investments while conducting the technological shift considering that circularity can provide part of the feedstock, especially when in the future global demand will reach a plateau?
They talked about the pros and cons of different implementation processes when it came to dismantling a vehicle. From a preliminary test, they saw that although longer, deeper dismantling processes reduced the amount of copper in post-shredding process, it helped to make a purer steel grade for recycling. They then spoke about additional upcoming analysis hoped to be released in September 2024, which would include the analysis of scrap samples by an independent laboratory to determine the quality and pollutant contents, how there would be a large-scale trial (steel coil) in collaboration with a steel producer & R&D laboratory and further analysis of the additional dismantling steps figures including time & costs, the quality ratio, its value and various aspects regarding quality control.
Looking at a new high-quality recycled raw material, Christian Blackert of TSR Resource GmbH & Co. KG from Germany, indicated how the industry is undergoing a major change process regarding the decarbonisation goals of the EU with a higher share of recycled materials in end products from OEMS. He also stated how the demand for scrap metal will increase by 50% between 2019 and 2035 primarily due to the doubling of the scrap metal requirements of the flat steel industry which will create a deficit and how TSR have created a new processing line in Duisburg to help deal with these challenges.
Stakeholder Opinions on ELV Regulation Proposal
The final speaker of the session, Willy Tomboy from Detomserve, Belgium, discussed how European Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) view the ELV Proposal. This initiative, established in 2022, aims to bring together PROs across Europe to share information and experiences. According to the data collected, Tomboy observed a significant decline in the proper treatment of ELVs, with an average reduction of 20% in 2023 compared to 2021.
From discussions with various PROs, he summarized the main concerns and suggested improvements to the ELV Regulation Proposal. These include ensuring proper treatment of ELVs, enforcing measures against illegal collection and treatment operators and supporting the positions taken by ACEA, CLEPA, and EURIC. Additionally, he emphasized the need to improve administrative and work processes while maintaining cost-consciousness.
After a chance for coffee, the delegates received a keynote address from Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, Director of Circular Economy from the EU Commission. He emphasized shifting from a “waste” to a “resource” perspective, proposing tax breaks for products with recycled content and revising the Waste Framework Directive. He also highlighted the importance of circularity for the EU’s economic survival and the retention of critical raw materials. He suggested tax breaks for recycled materials to increase competitiveness and acknowledged the industry’s call to transform the Waste Framework Directive into a resource directive. Ciobanu-Dordea expressed hope for the 2025 implementation of the revised End-of-Life Vehicle Directive, praised progress, and urged collaboration. He emphasized the complementary role of chemical recycling and assured support for the automotive industry.
Critical Raw Materials and Circularity
The penultimate session looked at the options for critical raw materials in the future. First, returning to the stage, Nacef Tazi from JRC looked at what could be done to enhance the circularity of precious and critical materials in vehicles with suggestions towards design provisions for e-drive motors, mandatory removal of the e-drive motor, information request and labelling and mandatory removal of selected embedded electronics. However, he did say that once it came to information requests in the e-drive motor, there needed to be the right balance between OEM confidentiality and the usefulness of the information for waste management operators. Finally, he asked if there is a circularity failure for aluminum in vehicles and, if so, what could be done to overcome this failure and suggested an increase in information sharing and cooperation, further removal before shredding, further sorting of alloys and increasing recycling efficiency,
Following Nacef was Benedetta Nucci from European Aluminum. She gave a presentation on what to expect when recovering aluminum from ELVs. She stated that a delicate balance had to be found between changing demand in terms of alloys and the push towards increased circularity as today, there is a gap between the total theoretical volumes of aluminum available in ELVs and what is collected today in the EU and that this gap will grow even further if the conditions do not change with illegal export, illegal treatment & unknown whereabouts being the main causes of this gap.
Her key takeaways being that cars are changing, and aluminum uses and alloys are changing as well. The average aluminum content in cars is expected to continue increasing until 2050. The aluminum scrap that we will get from ELVs is what was used 15-20 years before, and to match (future) demand with the current availability of aluminum scrap, a great collaboration is needed from the whole value chain and seeing the revision of the ELV Directive will be instrumental in making this happen.
Next, Susanne van Berkum gave insight into her organization, The Netherlands Material Observatory (TNO), which was set up because concerns regarding the availability of critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU have recently increased. Learning from similar organisations in Europe she hoped the NMO would help contribute to a resilient economy and society. With the project kicking off in late 2023, the next step for the organisation is to take a deeper dive into emerging technologies, broadening the scope towards other end-of-life products, including ELVs.
Electrification Impact on ELV Sector
The final session of the event began by focusing on the impact of the electrification of the car fleet on the ELV sector with Bernard De Caevel from RDC Environment on behalf of ADEME located in France, who provided the findings on a recent ADEME survey of French ELV centers revealed challenges in handling electrified end-of-life vehicles. Key findings include that 62% have not received electrified ELVs, 55% do not accept them, and 50% have trained staff for battery removal. Only 15% can diagnose battery health, and while 61% have suitable vehicle lifts, specialized equipment like lifting tables and insulated tools are scarce. Enhanced training, equipment, and collaboration are essential for efficient electrified ELV management. Continuing with the survey regarding the expected shift to ELVs presented new challenges for ATFs, including increased regulatory demands and the need for specialized handling of high voltage components and batteries, complicating operations. While demand for ICE parts declines, there’s growing interest in electrified vehicle components. Effective management of diverse products, from used parts to high-value electrification elements, is crucial. ATFs must adapt to these changes to navigate the evolving economic landscape.
Maximizing Component Value Retention in HV-Batteries
Next, and providing insight from Volvo Battery Lifecycle Services and maximizing component value retention of HV – batteries inside a car, Bart Pyl explained how it aims for sustainability to be its success, with an aim to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions and become a circular economy by 2040. He also stated how a Volvo would only use one new HV-Battery in its lifetime and that a damaged HV-Battery in an electric Volvo doesn’t necessarily mean economical total loss using its own closed and open loop recycling systems, especially when there had been recent press coverage of such vehicles being written off for receiving a scratch on its battery.
The final speaker of the event was Catherine Leleu from ‘The Future Is Neutral’ head of Refactory’s Business Development of Renault; she highlighted the pioneering efforts of the Refactory project in establishing a comprehensive 360° circular economy enterprise. As Europe’s first circular economy factory for mobility, Refactory focuses on closed-loop material sourcing, vehicle and battery recycling, parts remanufacturing, and extending vehicle life. The initiative includes a campus dedicated to circular mobility industry training, applied research, and inclusive education. With over 1,200 individuals retrained for new roles, Refactory exemplifies innovation in resource optimization and sustainable automotive practices. The presentation emphasized the company’s ambitions to unite automotive stakeholders and expand partnerships to cover the global value chain by 2030.
In Conclusion
The 23rd International Automotive Recycling Congress (IARC) concluded successfully, gathering delegates from the auto recycling community in Antwerp, Belgium. The event, endorsed by His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium, featured insightful keynote addresses and presentations. Discussions highlighted sustainability approaches, the importance of circularity, and the challenges of the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Regulation proposal. Key themes included proper ELV treatment, enforcement against illegal operations, and optimizing recycling processes. The congress emphasized collaboration among stakeholders to achieve environmental goals and adapt to evolving industry demands.
The next IARC is scheduled for March 19-21, 2025, in Antwerp.