EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation: TecPart warns of shortages of recycled materials

Portrait photo of Michael Weigelt, Managing Director of TecPart

The association welcomes the recently adopted EU ELVR regulation whilst at the same time warning of an impending shortage of recycled materials.


Following the adoption of the new EU regulation on the recycling of end-of-life vehicles (End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation, ELVR), the TecPart – Verband Technische Kunststoff-Produkte e.V. has, according to a statement, welcomed what it sees as positive signals from the recycled plastic usage quotas set out in the ELVR. TecPart sees these requirements as an important stimulus for investment in plastics recycling and the circular economy infrastructure for the recovery of end-of-life vehicles. At the same time, TecPart’s Managing Director, Michael Weigelt (photo), points out what the association considers to be major hurdles to overcome before the regulation comes into force in 2032.
 
In order to meet the specified recycled content targets from 2032 onwards – 15 per cent of the plastics used in vehicle manufacturing, rising to 25 per cent from 2036 – extensive adjustments and investment will be necessary. These would concern not only the clean collection of plastic waste, but also a significantly higher yield of usable recycled materials. Furthermore, the high-quality recycled materials required for vehicle manufacturing would have to be extracted from a relatively contaminated waste stream, which would necessitate complex new treatment steps and drive up costs along the supply chain. According to TecPart, dismantling capacities for plastics from end-of-life vehicles are also still insufficient and would need to be expanded rapidly. At the same time, rising recycled material targets in other sectors, such as packaging, are further exacerbating the market situation. According to TecPart, this threatens to create a shortage of the required quantities of recycled material, particularly in terms of higher-quality grades. However, the association’s main focus remains on the ongoing competition from very cheap virgin plastics from third countries.
 
From TecPart’s perspective, the recycled material shortage could be partially alleviated if production waste were also counted towards the quota, something the regulation does not currently provide for. For Rainer Zies, Managing Director of MKV-Kunststoffgranulate and a member of the TecPart Executive Board, it is incomprehensible why these recycled materials do not count towards the quota. It was already clear today that, even with so-called post-industrial recyclates (PIR), the required quantities for key engineering plastics cannot be met. TecPart is therefore calling for all secondary materials to be permitted as a matter of principle and for the requirements to be adjusted if the market is self-sustaining.
 
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