It’s essential for the country and the world, to improve Australia’s recovery efforts and reduce environmental impact – to enable the industry to moves towards a more sustainable future.
To that end, a plan to reduce landfill, protect the environment and help sustainable manufacture – progressing end-of-life vehicle management throughout Australia – has been announced by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA).
These two organisations have produced ‘The Outlook for End-of-Life Vehicles in Australia’ report following a comprehensive study funded by the Government’s Project Stewardship Innovation Fund. It’s a hard read – highlighting how far behind our country is from other leading global economies. However, there are significant reasons for that, unique to Australia, including a fragmented recycling and dismantling industry lacking in a nationally consistent approach, low recycling capability for high volumes of non-metal materials and a near non-existent domestic vehicle manufacturing industry – needed to support reuse of materials.*
But there is good news! The study found Australia can grow its recovery rates and reduce waste to landfill through an industry/government co-regulatory product stewardship scheme. Also that there is an appetite for this to happen across the country and throughout the industries involved. Here at CarTakeBack we’ve long campaigned for a more sustainable approach to car recycling.
“CarTakeBack Australia was born from a company that operates within a successful ELV recycling operation in the EU, where 95% of vehicles are recycled. Since establishing our network in AU, we have only worked with recycling centres that focus on responsible recycling – depolluting vehicles and recycling as much of each car as possible.
We’re delighted to see the work being done on addressing this huge issue nationally and we’re enthusiastic to work within an industry with more stringent regulations related to depollution, recycling and recovery. Working alongside the automotive, dismantling, recycling and waste management sectors as well as the different levels of government we look forward to helping deliver this scheme.”
Carl Witherspoon – Business Development & Operations Manager, CarTakeBack
The FCAI and MTAA’s proposed stewardship scheme is a significant step towards upgrading the country’s vehicle recycling infrastructure. The scheme will reduce waste leakage risks via the adoption of a nationally consistent approach encompassing all states and territories. It will also significantly reduce waste streams to landfill by identifying ways to economically recover a wider range of vehicle materials such as plastics, glass, rubber and textiles, and adopting more effective practices in automotive recycling.
Key to the plan will be these three elements:
• Authorised collection and treatment facilities – Establishing standardised facilities with rigorous operating and environmental standards
• Certificates of Destruction (COD) – Implementing a system to issue the public with CODs to enhance vehicle tracking and support higher recovery standards
• National consistency – Developing a nationally consistent approach to vehicle recycling that aligns with best practices, while addressing local challenges
The global CarTakeBack network is well practised at working with Authorised Treatment Facilities, issuing Certificates of Destruction and delivering that responsible car recycling service across entire countries. We’re excited about the developments that can be rolled out here in Australia over the coming months, and the longer-term changes that will bring the country forward in its approach to end of life vehicles – protecting the environment and supporting sustainable manufacture.
As CarTakeBack have had a long-standing passion for responsible car recycling we have plenty of information on this topic from our in-depth blog on sustainable car manufacture to the simple environmental benefits of recycling your car to our latest blog on all the car components that can be recycled.
Product Stewardship is an environmental management strategy that means whoever designs, produces, sells, or uses a product, takes responsibility for minimising the product’s environmental impact throughout all stages of the products’ life cycle, including end of life management. In this case, an End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Product Stewardship Scheme will bring the industry’s numerous stakeholders together to create a sustainable ELV recycling and re-use system, ultimately benefiting the broader auto industry, the economy and the environment.
