MEPs back car recycling scheme

Date: 04/02/1999

By Renée Cordes

MEPS have thrown their weight behind a European Commission proposal which could force carmakers across the EU to meet the full cost of recycling their vehicles.

The auto industry fears that the move could impose enormous additional costs on the sector, with an especially heavy financial burden on manufacturers with a smaller European presence.

"The Commission proposal is not really market-orientated," said Darcy Nicolle, spokesman for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, whose members have a 12% share of the European market. "The danger is that it will add to costs and get us into the business of dismantling, which is an area where we do not want to get involved."

But 'green' campaigners heralded the vote by the European Parliament's environment committee earlier this week as an important step towards EU-wide recycling.

Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard's proposal on end-of-life vehicles would force manufacturers to compensate motorists if the costs of recycling their cars were higher than their value broken down as components and scrap. The move is aimed at giving carmakers an incentive to design their vehicles with recycling in mind.

If the Commission's proposal is approved, smaller auto manufacturers throughout the EU could be forced to follow the lead of German manufacturer BMW and set up their own dismantling plants.

German Christian Democrat MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz, who is guiding the legislation through the committee, had proposed deleting the demand for manufacturers to pay for the full costs of recycling. However, his argument that member states should be given as much flexibility as possible in deciding who should meet the cost of recycling was rejected by a majority of committee members.

Florenz is nevertheless confident that they will be able to reach a compromise between the two positions before the full Parliament debates the proposals. The plan was originally due to be voted on at next week's plenary session, but Florenz said that it might be postponed while talks continue.

Committee members also voted in favour of the Commission's plan to force manufacturers to remove a number of substances such as lead, mercury and cadmium from cars before recycling, because of their high toxicity.

This has provoked an angry response from suppliers to the car industry. "There are alternatives to these products but they would lead to higher energy consumption, probably more imports of steel from outside Europe and higher costs for the machinery industry," warned Hans Herlitz, technical director of European steelmakers' association Eurofer.