End-of-Life car rules announced

New regulations that oblige manufacturers to take back and recycle their vehicles have been announced this week, in a bid to reduce the number of abandoned vehicles in the UK and encourage more sustainable production. The End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulations 2005 outline a new set of environmental responsibilities for manufacturers and importers.

The regulations, which will be brought in incrementally, state that by 2006 manufacturers must create collection networks for ELVs while ensuring that materials are recovered from 85% of the vehicles weight, and from 2007 provide ‘free take back’ to owners of ELVs.

Cars and light vans are covered under the regulations.

Energy Minister Mike O'Brien said; "About two million cars and vans are scrapped each year in the UK. By ensuring that more are recycled through convenient take-back facilities, these regulations will benefit the environment and ought to be good news for car owners."