Kai Lindell, Executive Director of the Finnish Dismantlers Federation (Suomen Autopurkamoliitto r.y.) in Finland, tells us about an initiative that the Federation lobbied to Finland’s Government’s Program in 2019, which was to enhance the reuse of end of life vehicle (ELV) spare parts by ensuring that all ELVs are first offered to a legal dismantler.
Legal dismantlers currently handle approximately 20,000 out of the annual 100,000 ELVs, a number which should be at least double to around 40,000 or even 50,000 ELVs. The reason is so that parts can be reused, but instead, they are wasted.
Traficom (The Finnish Vehicle Registration Authority) should be established based on the existing vehicle register, a database for vehicles destined for scrapping to allow ELV’s usable disassembly parts for reuse as widely as possible so that the objectives of the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (ELV) are met.
Finally, in early February 2022, after implementing the project in June 2021, a preliminary study – based on our initiative – on measures to promote the reuse of end-of-life vehicles was started. Its project coordinator is the Pirkanmaa Center for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment/Centralized Environmental Services, and the funding for this project is € 40,000 (Ministry of the Environment € 20,000, € 20,000 Ministry of Transport and Communications).
Background and starting points
In the case of waste treatment, the priority is to prepare the waste for re-use (Waste Act and Decree end-of-life vehicles, Vna 123/2015). The End-of-Life Vehicles Ordinance (Article 7 (2)) requires that: parts suitable for re-use in the pre-treatment and storage of end-of-life vehicles shall be removed; and stored so that they can be prepared for re-use. Reuse of end-of-life vehicles promotes the re-use of its parts, refined or repaired as spare parts or for new uses without further pre-treatment. Promoting re-use is needed as EU legislation changes.
The amendment to the Waste Framework Directive strengthened the provisions to increase the preparation for re-use; a new section – 11a was added to the Waste Act to facilitate the preparation for re-use. The provision requires that the municipality, producer, or other professional waste collectors have waste collection reserved for companies and entities preparing for re-use to obtain suitable waste for preparation for re-use from a designated collection point.
Key objectives of the study are:
- Increase the re-use of end-of-life vehicle parts
- Strengthen Finland’s role as a pioneer in the circular economy
- Bring together tools to promote reuse
- Evaluate the feasibility of a platform for vehicles to be scrapped
- Support the retention of end-of-life vehicles in an officially approved treatment system
- Support climate change mitigation and carbon neutrality efforts
Social media campaign
Suomen Autopurkamoliitto r.y. (The Finnish Dismantlers Federation) is currently running a targeted social media campaign to promote the demand for re-usable ELV parts.
The main social media applications are Facebook and Youtube with videos and banners, and other tools taking interested people to Suomen Autopurkamoliitto’s website of member companies. The video can be viewed here: https://www.autopurkamoliitto.fi/liitto/jasenpurkamot/.
This is the second time this kind of campaign has been run, and last year, the sales went up by 20%.
ISO certification
A few years ago, Suomen Autopurkamoliitto commissioned an ISO-style quality system training and auditing program from an expert. First members went through the process to get it put in place. Now the goal is for all members to implement a quality system within a few years. This is because the new ELV Directive and the rapidly changing business environment sets new requirements.
And if you would like to contact Kai, please email him at kai.lindell@autopurkamoliitto.fi or visit www.autopurkamoliitto.fi
