Deal in sight over car recycling plans near end of road

Date: 03/07/1997

AFTER months of internal dispute, the European Commission finally seems ready to table plans for more stringent recycling requirements for old cars.

Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard is hoping to present her colleagues with a draft directive on 'end-of-life vehicles' by the end of the month.

But intense discussions are likely to continue right up to the last minute between Bjerregaard's advisers and officials representing Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann, who has steadfastly opposed a statutory approach to used-car recycling. “I think it is safe to say there is general agreement that we need a directive of this kind and we want to see it go through even if that means the need to compromise. But there will need to be compromise from both sides,” said one official.

There is a feeling that if agreement can be reached between the two Commissioners with the greatest differences, as well as the largest direct interest in the issue, the draft should sail through the Commission without too many problems.

At stake is a measure which would not only have significant effects for both the car industry and the environment, but also reflects Bjerregaard's long-held wish to introduce the notion of 'producer responsibility' into EU law, giving manufacturers a duty to ensure the environmental safety of their products right up to disposal.

Disagreement over the directive has also highlighted the broader philosophical debate between those favouring tighter 'green' legislation and industry's desire for self-regulation on a voluntary basis.

“We have been doing serious work over the last three or four weeks and are getting close to a solution. But what we are talking about are really fundamental points,” said one source.

This view was confirmed by John Hollis, of European car industry lobby ACEA, who pointed to outstanding differences over producer responsibility, whether there should be recycling targets and how funding should be organised for taking cars back from their final owners.

Hollis said all the industries which would be affected by such legislation had been operating according to a cross-sectoral agreement for the past three years. “These are fundamental ideas being promoted which would jeopardise all the work done so far if they were adopted. Our strategy was designed by consensus to benefit all. If the proposal goes ahead, it could break that consensus,” he claimed.

The Commission's original plans covered a wide range of requirements for car manufacturers. These included phasing out materials such as lead, mercury and PVC by 2002, and establishing systems for the collection and transferral of all 'end-of-life vehicles' to authorised treatment facilities.

No vehicle could be deregistered unless a 'certificate of destruction' had been issued and cars would have to be stripped of all hazardous materials before processing in the scrapyard.

Bjerregaard's original target was to increase the amount of the car reused or recycled from the current average of about 75&percent; to 95&percent; by 2015. But the need to pacify powerful industrial interests and their champion in the Commission may force major changes to her plans.