Circular economy: Council adopts position on the recycling of vehicles at the end of their life
Circular economy: Council adopts position on the recycling of vehicles at the end of their life
The Council’s position increases the level of ambition of the regulation, including in its scope heavy-duty trucks and two- or three-wheel bikes and quadricycles
The Council has adopted its position on the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) regulation, which sets requirements to ensure that new vehicles are designed in a way that supports their re-use, recycling and recovery. The regulation in particular introduces a mandatory target for recycled plastics and opens the possibility to set future targets for recycled steel, aluminium, and critical raw materials.
Paulina Hennig-Kloska – Minister for Climate and Environment
“The end-of-life vehicle regulation is a game-changer for Europe. It cuts waste, curbs our reliance on critical raw materials from abroad, and drives our car industry into the heart of the circular economy. With the Council’s position, this legislation will not only boost the competitiveness of our car and recycling industries but also slash red tape to a minimum.” – Paulina Hennig-Kloska – Minister for Climate and Environment.
Trucks, motorbikes and quadricycles
The Council’s position increases the level of ambition of the regulation, including in its scope heavy-duty trucks and two- or three-wheel bikes and quadricycles. As in the case of cars and vans, the design of these vehicles should enable the removal of parts and their producers must establish a circularity strategy and label the different parts. Certain special purpose vehicles have been added under the scope of the regulation to further increase circularity and treatment benefits. A special purpose vehicle is a motor vehicle designed for specific functions other than carrying passengers or goods, such as a mobile crane, fire truck, or ambulance.
Used vehicles and end-of-life vehicles
The Council added requirements that for every change of ownership of used vehicles, the seller should present documentation proving that the vehicle is not an ELV. This requirement will not apply to sales between individuals, except for those concluded online, since they constitute a higher-risk situation. The Council position clarifies the definition of ELV and introduces exemptions for vehicles of special cultural interest and for old cars restored to be used on the road again.
Minimum recycled content
The general approach proposes a three-stage approach to the target for a minimum percentage of recycled plastic content in vehicles, to ensure substantial, but realistic, circularity benefits:
15% by 6 years after the entry into force of the regulation
20% by 8 years after the entry into force of the regulation
25% by 10 years after the entry into force of the regulation
The Commission will be empowered to lay down temporary derogations from these targets if there is a shortage of recycled plastics or prices are excessive. The Commission could also set a minimum share of different recycled materials other than plastics, after conducting a feasibility study.
Less red tape
To reduce the burden on vehicle manufacturers, the Council position propose that the circularity strategy must be established by vehicle category (cars, vans, etc.) rather than by model. In the same vein, the ‘digital circularity vehicle passport’ will be better aligned with other similar passports established by EU law.
Extended producer responsibility
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy approach where producers are held responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, including post-consumer waste management. In the case of vehicles, the EPR regime was amended to provide member states with more flexibility to accommodate their specific circumstances (for instance in outermost regions) or pre-existing legislation. Under EPR, producers must also cover the cost of transport from a collection point to the treatment facility, and the costs for vehicles whose producer is unknown or does not exist, in proportion to their market share. Concerning trucks and motorbikes, the EPR fee should cover the costs of the whole treatment chain, and not only the collection and disposal, as proposed by the Commission. For third country vehicle producers, recycling costs must be covered by the producer who placed the vehicle on the EU market.
Collection and treatment
The Council position clarifies where vehicles should be delivered at the end of their life (either to an authorised treatment facility (ATF) or to a collection point,), and how they should be treated (i.e. storage, depollution, including removal of hazardous fluids and parts and time limit for it, shredding). Mixed shredding of ELVs with other waste will be banned unless certain quality criteria and limit values are met by output fractions.
Export of used vehicles
To reduce the number of ‘missing vehicles’, the general approach clarifies that customs controls to verify that only roadworthy vehicles are exported from the EU should be fully automated and continue to be based on existing risk management principles. Member states may continue using current applications to connect to the MOVE-HUB, a platform to link national electronic registers and customs systems via the EU Single Window Environment for Customs.
Next steps
The Council is now ready to start negotiations with the European Parliament, as soon as the latter adopts its position.
Background
The review of the legislation on end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) stems from the broader context of the European Green Deal, which aims to promote more circular business models by linking design issues to end-of-life treatment.
The production of vehicles is one of the most resource-intensive industries. Europe’s automotive sector is responsible for 19% of demand for the EU’s steel industry (over 7 million tonnes/year), 10% of overall consumption of plastics (6 million tonnes/year), and a significant share of the demand for aluminium (42% for all transport equipment, around 2 million tonnes/year), copper (6% for automotive parts), rubber (65% of the production of general rubber goods) and glass (1.5 million tonnes of flat glass produced in the EU).
The circular economy is a production and consumption model focused on minimising waste by extending the life of products through sharing, reusing, repairing, and recycling. When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy for as long as possible thanks to recycling. To maximise the advantages of circularity, products need to be designed in such a way that they can be easily recycled at the end of their life.
The new legislation amends regulation (EU) 2018/858 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles and repeals directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles (‘ELV directive’) and directive 2005/64/EC (‘3R type-approval directive’).
