End of Life Vehicles

national | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Monday November 06, 2006 14:55 by jim travers jimtravers at eircom dot net

Ireland and end of life vehicles

Since 1997 I have endeavoured to highlight the need to establish an environmenal end of life vehicle disposal network that would comply with an EU Directive on End of Life Vehicles and help clean up the environment for all of our people to enjoy. My plan was to make Ireland the pride of Europe and a leader in the proper environment recycling and disposal of motor vehicles. Despite knocking on many doors, I experienced an old Irish problem of notyet,not yet, not yet.

The End of life vehicle Disposal Company

The End of Life Vehicles Disposal Company was established as a result of an article in a national newspaper which stated that the European Commission was considering a proposal for a Directive on end of life vehicles.After years of thinking about the visual and environmental damage abandoned vehicles were doing to our countryside and community areas around the country, I realised that this proposal had the potential to stimulate a more indebt interest from both the general public and motor manufacturers, with a potential to create a new industry where people with many varied skills would be required to properly dimantle,identify, recycle and dispose of all the components that make up a motor vehicle. After months of research and numerous trips to the UK, I finally developed a blueprint that would form the basis for the establishment of a pilot disposal system and encourage the participation of the motor industry in the disposal of their vehicle.

I carried out research work over a number of months and discovered later, that an orginisation in the United Kingdom called CARE (Consortium of Automotive Recyclers) had conducted a similar study and had come up with similar finding as I had.The only fundimental difference between my research work and CARE was that the United Kingdom was in a better position in achieving its recycling objectives because the UK had a basic recycling infrastructure in place due to its heavy industrialised industries and its diversity of industries suitably positioned around the country that were capable of achieving their recycling/disposal objectives.My disposal cost per vehicles was E900 compared to the UK cost of E700 which was ocnsiderably less, due to our transportation costs in sending hazardous wastes from Ireland to the UK or Europe for reprocessing.

My first contact was with the Society for the Irish Motor Industry(SIMI) who appeared at first glance to be bewildered by the fact that someone in Ireland was prepared to tackle this problem at a time when the EU was only beginning to feed the business community with information on the direction the EU was preparing to go in relation to the whole issue of automotive recycling and disposal.
After a meeting in the SIMI head office, I was convinvced that the SIMI was in the dark about this new development, never mind an approach needed in solving a problem that in time would effect its members throughout all sections of its orginisation. The SIMI asked for all the information we had and asked us to keep them up to date on any future developments of our proposals to establish a pilot disposal facility.As in many other cases of SIMI brain storming, I was very concious of the fact that this orginisation had an amazing track record of taking someone else's ideas and rejuggling them to look as if they came out of Pembroke Road, so in order to protect the initial idea I set up an eircom account and published my plans for all to see.

The Irish motor industry has a huge problem when it comes to the responsibility for the recycling/disposal of old motor vehicles. Their whole business strategy is based around selling new vehicles and supplying new parts for those vehicles. We now have a potential for conflict whereby the motor industry is suddenly handing over the professional, technical and orginisational managment of a new developing system, to a group of people(sometimes called knackers) who have no professional automotive skills and who have shown in the past, total and complete comtempt for environmental matters. The worst part of this problem is that motor manufacturers will be obliged to financially support car dismantlers, who will put more and more pressure on manufacturers for increased financial support as the system becomes more dependent on the active participation of the car dismantling industry.I cound not have emphasised this enough to the SIMI, that if the industry did not take immediate action in order to gain a controlling interest in the environmental recycling/disposal of motor vehicles then they would be handing a system that would be governed by EU law over to a less qualifies orginisation with the potential to hold to ransom on an indefinate basis, Irish imported distributors .

The key to the success of developing a recycling /disposal network nationwide was the establishment of a pilot recycling system where the full dismantling proceedures could be developed to its full potential. I contacted the Tallaght Enterprise Board with a view to securing their help in producing a feasability study, and later, if successful, financial assistance in developing the project further.The enterprise board assaigned Mr Brendan Keegan as a mentor, who would advise and help me advance the project further. A pilot recycling/disposal plant was established in Weatherwell Industrial Estate in order to test the system and gain valuable information that would enable both Brendan and I recommend to the motor industry the best way forward in developing a nationwide dismantling/disposal system.During this time we advertised in local newspapers for the free collection of end of life vehicles from residents homes. With the help of a computer programmer we designed a disposal certification database and began issuing certificates of disposal to those who left their vehicles into the disposal centre. We also issued disposal certificates that accompanied the previous owners log books to the Department for the Environment.
The department never rejected these certificates by returning them as not suitable for the purpose of disposal certification.

Our next step was to seek financial support from the many motor importer distributors who would help us kick start a system that would have a domino effect throughout the country. The only company that showed any major interest in supporting such a development was Nisan Ireland.
Suzuki Ireland also showed their interest in our proposals but were waiting until others came on board. Toyota Ireland thought it was of no importance nor relevant to their current or future needs. The Irish Motor Industry instantly lost a golden opportunity to have a total and commanding influence in the establishment of complete environmental recycling and disposal system that would enable them to comply with any future EU Directive.My pilot system did not fail, it proved very succcessful but lacked the financial imput that would have made it the pride of the motor industry.

The whole purpose of the pilot disoal plant was to show the Irish motor industry that they themselves could organise and help establish a system that complied with the highest of professional standards they expected while at the same time providing them with a controlling input in the future direction of environmental automotive disposal in Ireland. The second stage of development was to seek a substantially sized premises where the pilot system could be transposed into a fully operational recycling/disposal centre, financed with state grant assistance, financial assistance from each motor importer distributor based on the number of new vehicles it sold in the previous year, also EU grant assistance for various environmental iniatives. A site at that time was identified on the Naas Road (currently Woodies Home improvment store) as being idelly suited for access from various parts of the country and to places like Hammond Lane where vehicle could be crushed and transported for reprocessing in the UK. The main trust of the ELV centre was to provide a visual presentation of a centre that both environmentally dismantles and disposes of motor vehiles and continues the environmental process by presenting to the public a business that is environmnetally pleasant in its looks.The main centre would oversee all the various proceedures throughout the dismantling centre networks and would be responsible for the total dismantling and disposal of every vehicle. Parts would be sold back to the car dismantlers at a very nominal charge, with all the technical and workforce activity being undertaken by the main centre. Dismantling centres around the country would decontaminate each vehicle and issue a certificate of disposal to the last owner. The main ELV centre would provide technical training and assistance to the various disposal centres and would manage a database that could be accessed by every local authority and government bodies including motor importer distributors and motor manufacturers.

This does not mean the car dismantling industry was to be excluded from the process, what it meant was that the Irish motor Industry provided the plan and the groundwork for the direction in which this new industry was about to take, therefore the car dismantling industry could either opt to stay out of the plan or become part of a new professional automotive industry that enhanced and protected their business in the future. Currently, there is a system in operation that has a number of alleged environmental disposal centres scattered around the country with an ELV representative body that has a nice blueprint for future development but the same organisation is controls and is an integrate part of the car dismantling industry and therefore will not want to develop a system that require substantial financial imnput from its members in order to help the car manufacturers and importer distributors out of their quandry, well at least not until the Irish Motor Industry is compelled to pay up and shut up by the EU.

The proposed network of environmental automotive disposal(now being proposed by the Department for the Environment) will not work because it lacks the basic fundimental requirements that enable the system to have a credible chance of success.

It has taken nearly seven years to atttempt to organise a system that could have been up and running to the highest of professional standards in less than two years.The motor industry could have collectively established a system whereby an invitation to the car dismantling industry to participation in progressing the environmental disposal proceedure, while at the same time protecting their own industry, could have been made on the motor industries terms of compliance.

Today, in the year of 2006 no credible and effective system of automotive environmental disposal has developed here in Ireland. Yes, there are decontamination centres and all the nice fields of green glossy commercial hipe of dismantling and disposal centres scattered around the country, but one question must be answered, if these centres are operating in compliance with either the Dept for the Environment guidelines or are compliant with the EU Directive on the Environmental disposal of motor vehicles, then where are all the technical people attached to these centres who should have a qualified knowledge of motor vehicle technology in order to properly identify, dismantle and store safely all the various hazardous materials, fluids and gases that are contained in motor vehicles.In a modern garage it is not acceptable for a car cleaner or a person with some mechanical knowledge to dismantle even the most simplist of automotive parts from a vehicle, it is another thing when components are ripped, burnt and piled high in a corner by an individual whose instructions is to take as many parts from the vehicle, as quickily as possible, for the purpose of resale.How can a scrap yard be given a green card as an environmnetal disposal centre when the only appreciable level of compliance they can provide is the draining of certain fluids and the issuing of a certificate of disposal? A recent study conducted by a professor in Cork University established that the vast majority of car dismantling premises who drain antifreeze from their vehicles cannot account or provide figures on the amount of antifreeze removed from the vehicles or where the antifreeze finally went.This is one clear examle of how unprofessional the whole system of disposal is handled by an industry that wishes to control the whole process on our behalf.

Rather than go on and natter any more(as I think you get the message) I would now like to extend an invitation to any motor importer distributor to discuss my proposals that will properly establish a credible disposal network and more importantly (as I have always stressed) give the motor industry control of a system they will be asked and obliged to pay for in its successful operation.Why not have a look at www.freewebs.com/envcars and tell us your opinion.

Want more information, can you help? Email: jimtravers@eircom.net
www.freewebs.com/envcars