ARN Sustainability Report 2010

ARN Auto Recycling

Focus on quality
improvement in the chain

The roots of ARN’s Auto Recycling lie in the original Auto Recycling Nederland organization. This ARN operating company manages the recycling of end-of-life vehicles in the Netherlands and must ensure that cars registered for dismantling are recycled correctly, as decreed in the End-of-Life Vehicles Management Decree.

The primary goal for ARN Auto Recycling is to recycle 95% of the weight of a car by 2015 with the largest possible market share; until then the statutory standard recycling rate is 85%. The challenge is to meet the statutory recycling rate at the lowest possible costs and with maximum environmental efficiency.

For the environmentally sound recycling of end-of-life vehicles, ARN Auto Recycling works in the recycling chain together with almost three hundred partners. These include ARN’s contract partners: 247 car dismantling companies, 4 collection companies, 17 recycling companies and 14 accredited shredder companies. As chain manager, ARN Auto Recycling determines where materials go for recycling into high quality materials.

In the annex on page 50 the trends in vehicle numbers are admitted.

Efficiency

Tendering

One of the means that ARN Auto Recycling uses to achieve lower costs and a maximum environmental return is the tendering, once every two to three years, for collection and processing of dismantled ARN materials from cars. An additional advantage of the tendering procedure is that in addition to pricing, sustainability criteria can also serve as a weighting factor for doing business with companies. Part of a requirement in a tendering procedure may be, for example, the extent to which a recycler employs the cradle to cradle concept where all the materials that have been used during the life of one product can be effectively used in another, or what is the percentage of ‘clean’ cars, which meet the Euro 5 standard for pollutant emissions, at a collection company.

ARN Extranet

With a view to potential cost savings and better environmental performance, ARN Auto Recycling continues to explore new techniques to process materials and make improvements in logistics. An example of such a logistical improvement in 2010 was the development of the ARN Extranet that went live on 1 January 2011. With this online application, car dismantling companies can indicate which materials they wish to have removed. Collection companies can enter into the system the quantities of materials that they have collected. If the information is correct, a car dismantling company can issue digital approval and ARN will make the payment.

Another example of increased efficiency in the chain concerns the drainage installations that ARN Auto Recycling has installed in recent years at 218 affiliated car dismantling companies. With the drainage installations, all hazardous liquids – gasoline, dirty fuel, diesel, oil, coolant, washer fluid and brake fluid – are removed from an end-of-life vehicle and stored in separate tanks. During 2010 the project was completed to equip all tanks with sensors that measure the level in the tank and are connected to a telephone. By means of a data line a signal is sent twice a week to the ARN computer, which decides whether a collection company should visit a car dismantling company or not.

2010 Environmental performance

Starting points

Rules governing the treatment of end-of-life vehicles were laid down in eu Directive 2000/53/ec – the Endof- Life Vehicles Directive. In 2002, this Directive was implemented at national level in the End-of-Life Vehicle Management Decree. The Decree, which was revised in 2007, prescribes that at least 85% of the weight of end-of-life vehicles in the Netherlands must be recycled or reused. At least 80% must be reused as a product or material, while a maximum of 5% can be achieved through energy recovery. The weight target has been increased with effect from 2015 to 95%, of which at least 85% through recycling and a maximum of 10% through energy recovery.
Various data are collected for the purposes of verifying these percentages. The European Commission has drawn up detailed rules on how these data are to be collected. European Member States must follow these rules in their reporting to the Commission in order to ensure that they report in a comparable way. The eu uses these reports to verify that the objectives laid down in Directive 2000/53/ec are being achieved.

In 2010, ARN undertook a shredder test. Regular shredder tests are consequence of the rules from the European Commission and are necessary for annual reporting to the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (formerly vrom). The reason for carrying out a shredder test in 2010 was the need to have a zero measurement before the PST facility was put into operation, in 2011. The data from the shredder test 2010 were used for calculating the recycling percentage 2010.
The recycling figures and processed quantities of materials published in this report were determined in accordance with the eu monitoring rules.

Quantity of end-of-life vehicles

In 2010, 232,448 end-of-life vehicles were registered with the shredder companies for treatment. The number of registrations in orad (the online vehicle dismantling registration system) in 2010 was 215,975. The upturn in numbers can partly be explained by the rise in metal prices in 2010; this development kick-started the market once again, as a result of which the built-up stocks of dismantled end-of-life vehicles from 2009 were transported to the shredder. Also in 2010, huge efforts were made to ensure correct reporting of the Eural code, as part of which the incentive for car dismantling companies to correctly dispose of end-of-life vehicles to the shredder was raised by ARN.

Determination of the average weight of end-of-life vehicles

In 2010, the average empty weight of all end-of-life vehicles was 999.1 kg. This figure was calculated on the basis of the orad registrations, as corrected by rdw for the weight of the driver and the fuel.

Share of dismantling companies in the recycling percentage

Table 1 shows the eu codes for the materials and the volumes of materials actually processed. These figures were provided by recycling companies contracted by ARN. These companies provide details on the mass balance, in which a statement is provided on how much of the processed materials have been usefully reused, incinerated with energy recovery and dumped. For a balanced report, these mass balance figures are compared with the weighing note figures from the collectors. In calculating the recycling percentage, fuel and lpg tanks are not included. In 2010, 201,846 kg of fuel (diesel, petroleum and gas) and 3,686 lpg tanks were processed in an environmentally-safe manner.

Table 1 EU-monitoringtable (in kg)

The dismantling companies also dismantle parts for reuse. This proportion is included in the recycling percentage by weighing the stripped end-of-life vehicle before it is transported to the shredder. This proportion contributes fully as reuse, excluding the ARN materials.

Share of shredder companies in the recycling percentage

A shredder test was carried out in 2010. The results of this shredder test serve as a basis for determining the contribution from shredder businesses to the recycling percentage. This applies only for the end-of-life vehicles processed by the Dutch shredder companies. For the end-of-life vehicles processed at foreign shredder companies, the mass balance details of these companies are taken into account.
The reuse share consists of the metal separated by the shredder company from the end-of-life vehicles for further use in the metal processing industry.

Processing of shredder waste

Since March 2010, it has been possible to incinerate (car) shredder waste in a waste-fired power station (waste incineration installation) with r1 status. This status means that the waste incinerated in this plant counts towards useful application with energy recovery. Various shredder companies supply their shredder waste to a waste incinerator installation with r1 status. This means that this share also contributes to the recycling performance of end-of-life vehicles as energy recovery. As a consequence, the energy recovery proportion of the recycling percentage was considerably higher in 2010 than in 2009.

Recycling yield in 2010

The figures in table 2 show the recycling yield of endof- life vehicles in 2010. The reuse percentage of 24.5% consists of the components dismantled from the end-oflife vehicle by the vehicle dismantling companies. The recycling percentage of 58.9% represents the total of material reuse of ARN materials (see table 1) and the metals reused following shredding.

Table 2 Recycling percentage

The metal percentage from the shredder test equates to more than 75% and consists partly of reuse and partly of recycling. The recovery percentage of 70.9% is the total of recycling (58.9%) and energy recovery (12%).

The figures in table 2 show that a reuse percentage of 95.3% was achieved in 2010, of which 83,3% reuse as product or material and 12% by energy recovery. These figures represent compliance with the statutory obligations from the End-of-Life Vehicles Management Decree.

As compared to the recycling percentage for 2009, this is a huge increase. It was above all caused by the processing of shredder waste following the shredding process. Of the 12% energy recovery, according to the European rules, from 2015 onwards, a maximum of 10% may be reported as recovery.

Effectiveness

Increasing market share

For the optimum performance of ARN Auto Recycling, the largest possible share of the market for end-of-life vehicles is desirable. Therefore, ARN Auto Recycling strives to affiliate with more car dismantling companies that meet ARN’s requirements.

The combating of unfair competition in the market is another means of gaining market share. The activities of ARN Auto Recycling in this field include:

Car dismantling companies must submit an accompanying form and weighing receipt to ARN Auto Recycling for each end-of-life vehicle. Shredder companies also provide information about the end-of-life vehicles that have been received. By comparing data, it is possible to determine leakage flows. By means of this system and following further research, it was established that two metal traders each mislaid 500 tonnes of discarded cars.

Leakage can be controlled by ensuring that the correct Eural code is used. An end-of-life vehicle that has been stripped of hazardous substances, thus is free of fluid, must be legally disposed of with the Eural code 16.01.06. ARN Auto Recycling assumes that an increase in the fee paid to car dismantling companies when an end-of-life vehicle arrives at a shredder company will also contribute to reducing the leakage flows. The fee was increased by 2.50 euros to 10.00 euros per discarded vehicle on 1 January 2011.

ARN Auto Recycling receives tips from, for example, car dismantling companies about illegal practices within the industry. If after checking the information against the data in the ARN database the suspicion is confirmed that something might be wrong, the information is passed on to the competent authority. The informer remains anonymous.

 

Leakage flows

Rewarding quality

The strategy of ARN Auto Recycling is aimed at improving quality in the recycling chain. In line with this, steps are being taken to shift from payment for dismantling to rewarding quality at car dismantling companies.

In 2010, ARN Auto Recycling developed a remuneration system to provide extra payments to certified dismantling companies. These companies receive an additional payment amounting to about 60 percent of the annual certification costs if they meet the following requirements:

  1. Discarded vehicles must have demonstrably been delivered to a shredder company with an ARN contract.
  2. Discarded vehicles must be delivered clean to a shredder company in line with the ARN standards.
  3. The ARN stickers must be correctly applied.
  4. The correct Eural code must be given.
  5. The end-of-life vehicle records must be in order.
  6. The requirements of the contract with ARN must be complied with.

ARN Auto Recycling performs a quality measurement at each affiliated car dismantling company several times a year in order to assess whether the conditions are met.

Participant in consultative bodies

The prevention of unfair competition and monitoring for improved implementation of the responsibility to meet the statutory recycling rate are two important reasons for ARN Auto Recycling to participate in many consultative bodies, including:

• Car Dismantling Sector team
 As part of the nationwide project to reform supervision, the former ARN consultation with provincial regulators has been replaced by the Car Dismantling Sector team. This new consultative body, which includes all provinces, trade association STIBA, RDW (Dutch road traffic agency), inspection and verification organization sgs, the tax authorities and liv (National Vehicle Crime Information Centre), is now under the direction of IPO, the umbrella organization of the twelve provinces. Besides exchanging information, the aim of the sector team for the provinces is also to achieve the supervision reform goals that are directed towards less, improved and clearer supervision and enforcement. This should ultimately result in a 25% reduction in supervision nationally, a target to be achieved jointly by the participants in the sector team. To improve supervision and enforcement, the sector team, together with industry partners in the chain, has established a number of study groups. These cover, for example:

- Combating illegality.
- Applying the mass balance.
- Comparing files from the province and tax authorities among others.
- Implementing the scrappage scheme.

• Foundation for Tackling Vehicle Crime (AVC)
Since 2009, ARN Auto Recycling has been an associate member of the AVC. The government (including the Ministry of Security and Justice, the Police and RDW) and private parties (including the Dutch automobile association anwb, bovag and rai Association) are working together in this foundation to reduce vehicle crime. The partners in the network work closely together to combat the leakage flows, for example.

Customer satisfaction survey

In 2010, ARN Auto Recycling commissioned a survey among car dismantling companies into the satisfaction with ARN’s services and the needs and expectations of these companies. The car dismantling companies gave ARN an average rating of 7.4 on a 10-point scale. Two thirds were positive about the services and 14 percent negatively disposed towards them. 13 percent were positive about ARN, but simultaneously negative about the PST facility. One of the conclusions of the survey is that the companies want to receive more information about developments in the field of legislation and regulations and about changes in the sector, including the commissioning of the PST facility. In general, car dismantling companies want to become more involved in the activities of ARN Auto Recycling. Another customer satisfaction survey will be conducted in 2011.

Developments in 2010

Outlook for 2011

Investigation into self-managed dismantling

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