As Europe tightens its environmental regulations and shifts toward a circular economy, Finland is stepping up its efforts in responsible vehicle recycling. Juha Kenraali, Director of Suomen Autokierrätys (Finnish Car Recycling Ltd), sheds light on how the country is tackling the challenges surrounding end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), enhancing reuse practices, and preparing dismantlers for the complex task of handling electric vehicles (EVs) and their batteries. From the development of a national digital platform (DELV) to closer cooperation with insurance companies and the promotion of green parts, Finland’s evolving system aims to bring transparency, efficiency, and sustainability to the heart of the auto recycling ecosystem.
Tightening the Net: Digital Tools and EU Alignment to Track ELVs and Curb the Grey Market
At the moment, possible changes in legislation seem to be on hold, and we are awaiting forthcoming EU regulations. Finnish Car Recycling, as the Producer Responsibility Organization, has recently developed a digital platform, DELV, to get better insight into the recycling process. This has already increased the volume of ELVs in the official system by 10-15 %.
Aging Fleet, Fading Value: Challenges and Strategies in Boosting the Reuse Market for Car Parts
There is, of course, demand for reused parts, but with the average age of ELVs in Finland being around 22–23 years, many components are no longer suitable for reuse. Bringing vehicles into the recycling and reuse phase earlier would significantly benefit the market for second-hand parts. To support this shift, a higher turnover of new cars entering the market is also essential.
Driving Digital: DELV Platform Boosts Transparency and Data in Car Recycling
The new digital recycling platform DELV brings together all car recycling partners on a single platform and creates a digital register of all recycled vehicles.
The digital DELV platform will provide services to recycling partners and aims to increase volumes and automate recycling through nationwide data collection, analysis and exchange of recyclables. This means improved data facilities for reused parts and better insight and control for combined material and data flow.
The electronic service channel aims to ensure a responsible recycling process, including a digital channel for consumers to start the car recycling process. In addition, DELV gives operators, dismantlers, and collection points visibility of all vehicles entering the official scrapping process across operator boundaries. Official car recycling partners can use the platform to forward vehicles and their parts for reuse.
There are some differences in recycling systems in the EU, but the new ELV regulation runs systems in the same direction. I hope that in the future, nations will share more data for monitoring, for example, cross-border transactions regarding ELVs.
Strengthening ELV Flow and Expanding Access to Green Parts
All vehicles classified as ELVs through insurance company processes are directed into the producer’s DELV system. Parts from these vehicles can only be reused by official network partners, ensuring traceability and making parts more widely available across the entire recycling ecosystem.
Building Capacity and Clarity in Battery Recycling
There is still a lot to develop to reach all players to the level needed. Also, the demand for regulation needs some clarification to ensure how to fill out the coming needs in the future. Safety issues, storing batteries, and different roles in preparing batteries to reuse are things to be considered.
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