Toronto, Ontario — June 30, 2015
A new paper published in the Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management seeks to compare end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling systems around the world.
According to the paper, ELVs have become a global concern as automobiles have become popular worldwide. An international workshop was held to gather data and to discuss 3R policies and ELV recycling systems, their background and present situation, outcomes of related policies and programs, the framework of recycling and waste management, and case studies on related topics in several countries and regions, as well as the essential points of the comparison.
The paper looks into the legislative ELV recycling systems established the European Union, Japan, Korea, and China, while in the US, ELV recycling is managed under existing laws on environmental protection.
Since automobile shredding residue (ASR) has a high calorific value and ash content, and includes heavy metals as well as a mass of unclassified fine particles, recycling ASR is considered highly difficult. Countries with a legislative ELV system commonly set a target for recovery rates, with many aiming for more than 95 percent recovery. In order to reach this target, higher efficiency in ASR recovery is needed, in addition to material recycling of collectable components and metals. Environmentally friendly design was considered necessary at the planning and manufacturing stages, and the development of recycling systems and techniques in line with these changes are required for sound ELV management.
The paper also examines automobile ownership and annual ELV generation by country. Canada’s vehicle ownership figures were 21,053,994 in 2010, with approximately 1,200,000 ELVs produced. The paper can be found online here.
