In a recently released position paper, European Aluminium welcomes the publication of the long-awaited proposal outlining circularity requirements for vehicle design and end-of-life vehicle management. The organization eagerly anticipates engaging with policymakers to help shape an effective and forward-looking ELV Regulation.
The document states:
‘The ELV Directive has undeniably led to significant improvements in the recycling and treatment of end-of-life vehicles. Since its initial implementation, substantial enhancements have been introduced. While we wholeheartedly endorse the current update of this directive to align with recent technological and societal developments, we also firmly believe that now, more than ever, there is a pressing need to continue our efforts towards regulations that prioritize the availability and reuse of materials used in cars.
The revised Regulation should not only ensure that materials are collected at the end of life and appropriately recycled or recovered but should further focus on the improvement of the quality of such materials, to ensure their reuse in closer loops and high-quality applications. Such targets could be achieved through increased attention to the design of vehicles, increased dismantling of components before shredding and their separate recycling, improved flow of information to dismantlers concerning the composition of the various components, and further implementation of post-shredding technologies.
This would also contribute to improving the collection and recycling of some critical and strategic raw materials (CRM), such as aluminium, as defined in the Critical Raw Materials Act. In fact, some existing CRMs besides aluminium, like magnesium and silicon, are typically used in aluminium alloys.
Improving the collection and recycling of aluminium alloys that already contain these CRMs as alloying elements would directly have an effect on these CRMs as it will decrease the need for virgin materials, it will enhance supply chain resilience and will ultimately contribute towards the specified recycling benchmark for each identified CRM.
In a nutshell, our main recommendations concerning this proposal are the following. More detailed explanations are reported in the main text of the position paper (see here):
1) Tackling unknown whereabouts, illegal treatment and shipping
2) Focusing on vehicle design to ensure circularity
3) Including minimum requirements for the classification of aluminium scrap coming from ELV treatment
4) Improving aluminium scrap quality by dismantling before shredding
5) Expanding the scope of the circularity passport to provide effective information to end-of-life operators
6) Potential post-consumer recycled content measures shall be fact-based
7) Improving the involvement of stakeholders into the procedure for exemptions’
Read the full position paper – END-OF-LIFE OF VEHICLES DIRECTIVE REVISION – EUROPEAN ALUMINIUM TOP PRIORITIES
