Recycling end-of-life vehicles

With more than eight million vehicles reaching end of life every year in Europe, of which one million Renaults, the company introduced a recycling policy ten years ago to help save natural resources and cut down on waste. The EU Directive of 18 September 2000, transposed into French law by the Order of 1 August 2003 and broken down into ministerial orders released at end-May 2006, is in favor of three types of recovery: parts reuse (Renault has a longstanding high-performance standard exchange offer), materials recycling (metal and plastic), and energy recovery to replace oil resources (tires).

From 1 January 2006, end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) have to be 85% recyclable by mass, of which at least 80% in parts reuse or materials recycling and the rest in energy recovery. This figure will rise to 95% in 2015, of which 85% parts and materials and 10% energy recovery.

Renault played an active role in transposing the directive in every target country, working with economic players and government, especially in France.

Renault also worked with dismantlers and shredders to introduce collection centers on a contractual basis in most European countries and, more specifically, to implement prefecture authorizations in France.

Until end-2005, Renault led the European consortium IDIS, taking part in introducing technical communication to operators.

Renault is continuing its work with dismantlers, shredders, recyclers and suppliers to develop facilities.


1) Phases and players in ELV recycling

ELV recovery requires a collective effort and shared responsibility between all players in the vehicle life cycle to set up recovery circuits that are technically and economically viable. Vehicle recycling can be broken down into four phases:

1st phase: This phase takes place at the dismantler, a highly local service that calls for a relatively dense network. The EU directive requires the introduction of a new non-technical process, deregistration, with the objective of 100% ELV traceability. Vehicle registration documents can now be destroyed only once a certificate is issued proving that a dismantler or shredder has picked up the vehicle, confirmed no more than 15 days later by a certificate of shredder destruction. The objective of this essential new process is that 100% of ELVs are handled by an authorized channel. So far, 600 entry points (dismantlers or shredders) have been authorized in France.

2nd phase: The dismantler removes hazardous components (airbag activation) and decontaminates the vehicle by removing dangerous and pollutant parts (fuel, oil, cooling and refrigerant fluids, batteries, etc.). Following which, the vehicle is considered as ordinary waste, which can be used as secondary raw material.

3rd phase: Reusable parts are removed, to be used later as used parts or for reconditioning. Recoverable materials such as tires, bumpers and plastic parts, are sorted by material family and recycled or reused.

4th phase: The vehicle carcass is shredded. The fragments that result are sorted by type of material (steels, non-ferrous metals, residue). Shredding residue is sorted to extract the fraction that can be recovered for material re-use (plastics) or for energy (blend of organic matter). Unusable final waste is taken to landfill.

The objective for industry is to enhance the post-shredding sorting process to develop technology on a profitable basis.

Recycling gives objects and materials a new lease of life. By way of example, battery lead is reused in new batteries, used oil is treated for recycling as fuel, the rubber from tires can be used to build noise walls or to produce energy, glass can be used for fibreglass, steel for industrial uses or in construction, and aluminium to make new wheels and engines.

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