Car Recycling

Legislation

According to End of Life Vehicles Directive (ELV Directive) of the European Union car manufacturers organize the recycling of vehicles in accordance with the applicable legislation. The requirement applies to passenger cars, vans and special vehicles such as recreational vehicles. In Finland, car recycling is coordinated by Finnish Car Recycling Ltd.

Implementation of Producer Responsibility

Finnish Car Recycling Ltd has established a nationwide network of authorized take-back points together with its partners. The last owner is both entitled and obligated to deliver an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) free of charge to any take-back point authorized by Finnish Car Recycling. At the take-back point the owner is issued a certificate of destruction, which ends the owner’s responsibility for the vehicle. The vehicle is also removed from the register.

Car Recycling

Under the ELV Directive, 95% of the weight of an ELV should be re-used and recovered.  The corresponding figures for re-use and recycling is  85%.

The recycling system covers the take-back, deregistration, pre-treatment and shredding of ELVs. Vehicle documents as well as the registration and identification data are verified at the take-back point. Only the owner is entitled to scrap a vehicle. The ELV is also checked for any missing/extra materials and items. When an ELV is removed from the register, the owner is issued a certificate of destruction. The system notifies the insurance company for the termination of the insurance and the Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) for the termination of the collection of annual vehicle tax. A vehicle that has undergone end-of-life deregistration and has been entered into the recycling system can no longer be commissioned to traffic.

In pre-treatment, the ELV is removed of all fluids. Other parts to be removed include, for example, tyres, battery and catalytic converter. Explosive parts such as airbags are either removed or deactivated. Depending on the demand, other re-usable parts, such as the engine, sheet metal and so on are removed.

After pre-treatment, the ELV is delivered to a shredding facility. At the facility, the ELV is shredded into pieces the size of a few centimetres. All ferrous and non-ferrous residue (NFR) are separated and processed into raw material for the metal industry. Light fraction, which mainly consists of textiles and plastics, is recovered for energy production or disposed of at a landfill site.

More information:
Finnish Car Recycling Ltd
Akkukierrätys Pb Oy
Suomen Rengaskierrätys Oy