The annual disposal of about 8 - 9 million cars in Europe has severe negative impacts on the environment. In addition to the environmental problems of car use, the disposal of cars is a major source of hazardous waste and toxic emissions.

Current waste management of end-of-life vehicles is focused on the recovery of ferrous metals in steel works. Cars are shredded and then separated into various fractions but only the metal fractions can be recycled. The remaining non-recyclable light fraction amounts to approximately 2 million tons of hazardous waste annually, which is equivalent to 10% of the total amount of hazardous wastes generated in the European Union. This waste is contaminated with heavy metals, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, plasticizers and hazardous oils. Most of this is disposed of in landfills, where leaching can lead to contamination of soil and groundwater. The presence of PVC plastics and other chlorinated materials poses particular hazards, such as dioxin formation, if this waste is incinerated, burned in cement and steel factories, or accidentally caught fire. PVC plastic residue in steel scrap also leads to dioxin emissions from steel recycling plants. Almost none of the PVC parts used in cars can be recycled.

The huge amounts of hazardous wastes and the toxic emissions generated by the disposal of end-of-life vehicles illustrate the environmental problems that arise when the end-of-life phase is not taken into account in the design of a car. It is essential that products, such as vehicles, be manufactured with non-hazardous materials to allow safe reuse and recycling.

The European Commission has advocated a cleaner materials policy within the recently revised waste strategy, which states the objective to be the prevention of the generation of wastes and the reduction of the content of hazardous materials in waste. The Commission envisages "EC-wide rules to limit the presence of heavy metals in products or in the production process or the ban of specific substances in order to prevent, at a later stage, the generation of hazardous waste". " (European Commission, 1996).

For this reason it is imperative that future EC legislation on cars stipulates the phase-out of hazardous materials such as PVC and heavy metals. PVC plastic (vinyl) needs to be replaced with cleaner, safer materials. Many car manufacturers are phasing out the use of PVC although alternatives may be slightly more expensive.

This leaflet focuses on the main problems of the DISPOSAL of end-of-life vehicles, with special emphasis on PVC plastic. The use of cars also contributes to other health and environmental problems (climate change, air pollution, noise, landscape destruction) but these are beyond the scope of this factsheet and will not be dealt with here.

The use of PVC varies between 10 - 30 kg per car (Enquete, 1994). The major applications fall in three categories: underbody coating (ca. 40%), interior trim (ca. 30%), cable insulation (ca. 30%) (Enquete, 1994; Pohle, 1997). Except for the underbody coating which to a large extent enters the steel fraction, most of the PVC used in cars ends up in the light fraction. This light fraction makes up 25-30% of car waste, the other materials being a ferrous metal fraction (65-70%) and a non-ferrous metal fraction (5%). Only the metal fractions can be recycled. The remaining non-recyclable light fraction amounts to approximately 2 million tons of hazardous waste annually, which is equivalent to 10% of the total amount of hazardous wastes generated in the European Union.

The use of heavy metals in cars is more difficult to track. While heavy metals are clearly found in the waste, their sources remain unclear. PVC, which often contains lead or cadmium compounds as additives, will be one of the sources.

During shredding itself, the heating of the material leads to thermal formation of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and -furans from precursors such as PVC and other organochlorines. Emission concentrations of dioxins have been reported to range from 0,19 - 2,35 ng I-TE per norm cubic meter (Hessen, 1991).

PVC from cars is the main source of chlorine input into steel works (Bandt, 1991b). PVC used in underbody coating enters the steel fraction due to its high adhesion. Almost the entire steel fraction is recycled in electric arc furnaces. It has frequently been observed and described that PVC and organochlorine impurities in the steel fraction lead to significantly increased emission levels of dioxins in steelworks (Tysklind, 1989; Bandt, 1991a; Theobald, 1995; Weiss and Karcher, 1996).

Compared with waste incinerators, the steel industry generates much larger volumes of stack emissions, which at the same time carry higher concentrations of dioxins. Special end-of-pipe filters to combat dioxins in steel recycling plants are not installed due to their tremendous costs and their inefficiency when dealing with such large emission volumes (Enquete, 1994). The public and environment thus end up bearing the cost and damage of emissions.

While some of the dioxins generated within steel plants are immediately emitted, some are captured in the filter dusts, together with semi-volatile heavy metals such as cadmium and lead. These filter dusts are normally recovered due to their rather high zinc content. However, their high content of dioxins and toxic heavy metals leads to serious emission problems in thermal operations for zinc recovery.

The light fraction contains hazardous substances including mercury (6-15 mg/kg), lead (3500-7050 mg/kg), cadmium (60-100 mg/kg), chromium (370-770 mg/kg), and arsenic (57-63 mg/kg) (Weiss and Karcher, 1996). The exact contribution of PVC to the contents of lead and cadmium is unknown. It is clear that PVC with an average content of 6 % in the light fraction constitutes by far the main chlorinated product in this fraction (Lower Saxony, 1995). However, unremoved car fluids such as oils, lubricants, brake fluids can lead to considerable PCB contamination of the light fraction. PVC is solely responsible for the content of phthalates in the light fraction.

Most of the light fraction is still disposed of in landfills. The hazardous light fraction is at risk of spontaneous combustion. Apart from other toxic emissions, substantial dioxin releases have been documented from open burning of the light fraction, originating from PVC and other chlorinated precursors (Ryan and Lutes, 1993). Furthermore, the hazardous constituents of the light fraction, such as heavy metals and plasticizers - partly or fully originating from PVC - are prone to leaching and may contaminate the groundwater (SRU, 1991; Furtmann, 1993).

Incineration of the hazardous light fraction does not solve the problem. Highly expensive filters are necessary to retain most of the heavy metals, dioxins and other hazardous compounds that are released or generated during combustion, only shifting them from the gaseous phase to secondary solid waste fractions (fly ash, bottom ash, filter residues). Most of these secondary wastes then need to be disposed of as hazardous waste.

However, PVC is not only a precursor to dioxin formation in incineration. Pure PVC has a chlorine content of 57%. When incinerated, the chlorine is transformed almost quantitatively into hydrochloric acid. This acid needs to be neutralised with an excess of alkaline salts - thus creating extra waste composed of contaminated salts for disposal. The amount of salt waste from 1 kg of PVC in municipal incinerators is estimated at 1 — 2 kg at a minimum for the dry and semi-dry process (DTI, 1995). This needs to be disposed of as hazardous waste. This means the incineration of PVC waste is actually a net generator of hazardous wastes.

Several industries in the EU are now experimenting with co-incineration of the light fraction, e.g. the cement and steel industries, although these plants are not equipped with adequate filter devices. Whereas waste incinerators - with the help of filters - shift the majority of the hazardous substances from emissions to secondary wastes, cement and steel plants emit many of these hazardous substances immediately. Even modern cement kilns often emit 90 per cent of the total mercury intake through their stacks (FIZ, unpublished).

Emissions of mercury, dioxins, PCBs and hexachlorobenzol may increase by several hundred per cent when 10% of light fraction is co-incinerated in steel smelters (Weiss and Karcher, 1996). The main source for these toxic organochlorine emissions is again PVC.

Mechanical recycling requires a pure, sorted material stream. This can only be achieved when the relevant parts can be dismantled before shredding and then separated from other materials. A study conducted by the German car society DAUG commissioned by the German PVC lobby group AgPU showed that PVC parts are distributed over the entire car, are often very small and that bigger parts are mainly made of composite materials, which are not suitable for recycling (DAUG, 1994). As a consequence, the study showed that only 5-10% of the total PVC used in a car could on average be dismantled for subsequent recycling.

Three PVC producers (Elf Atochem, Solvay and Resinoplast) in France recently announced a plan to recycle 5000 tons of PVC car parts "within four or five years" (European Chemical News, 1997). However, according to industry information, 80% of the PVC under this "recycling" scheme will in fact be incinerated. As regards the remaining 20%, experience with other PVC recycling projects shows that recycling goals for PVC are often not met: after five years of industry efforts, the current PVC recycling rate in Germany remains less than two percent (Lahl and Zeschmar-Lahl, 1997). The main reasons for this failure are that PVC recyclate can not compete on the market with virgin PVC due to its inferior quality and its higher price (SRI, 1993; Pohle, 1997).

Recycling is meant to replace virgin materials. A true re-cycling that makes a new high quality product out of 100% old material is impossible for PVC. PVC recycling always needs the input of virgin material and it is therefore highly unlikely that PVC recycling will reduce the production and use of virgin materials. It will most likely shift the use of lower quality PVC products into new materials thus creating new PVC waste disposal problems.

PVC also poses a risk to human health or the environment during use because of the additives in PVC. Soft PVC (as used in car interiors and car undercoating) can contain up to 50% of plasticizers, mainly phthalates. The most commonly used phthalates exert a wide range of toxic effects (Staples et al., 1997; DTI, 1995; Freij, 1994). Some phthalates have been shown to have endocrine-disrupting properties (Jobling et al., 1995; Harris et al, 1997). Phthalates may leak or be washed out from PVC products during their lifetime.

In laboratory tests, phthalates have been found in wastewater after washing textiles and cleaning vinyl floors (DTI, 1995) and it is expected that a significant amount is being washed out from underbody coating of cars (KEMI, 1996). Some car manufacturers, like Opel, have replaced PVC in car interiors because of the potential health hazards from evaporation of phthalates.

As demonstrated above, the use of toxic heavy metals and PVC have a strong negative impact on all recycling and disposal operations. Product design is key to the solution of environmental problems. Design for the environment involves phasing out the use of hazardous substances to avoid the generation of hazardous waste and allowing maximum reuse and recycling. Greenpeace demands that the use of lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, PVC and all halogenated substances be phased out from car production by the year 2000.

Alternatives to PVC have been developed for all applications in cars and are already available on the market. The trend towards increasing the use of plastics in car manufacturing to decrease the weight of a car (and thus energy consumption) goes hand in hand with the need to reduce the number of different types of plastics to facilitate recycling. And the goal to achieve better recycling of plastics in cars automatically excludes the use of PVC.

Daimler Benz has already phased out the use of PVC in underbody coating and in the interior of all cars produced since summer 1995 (Daimler Benz, 1997). Volvo acknowledges that some PVC additives are environmentally hazardous and is phasing out all PVC as a precautionary measure where appropriate alternatives are available (Volvo, 1997). Nissan recently announced that they have developed an alternative for PVC cables that they will start using in their cars starting this fall (Nissan, 1997). Toyota has developed an alternative plastic for interior uses (Toyota, 1997). Opel does not use PVC anymore in car interiors (personal communication). VW is looking for alternatives with better material characteristics (VW, 1997). BMW offers PVC-free dashboards (BMW, 1997).

PVC-alternatives are (still) slightly more expensive than PVC. That's why some car manufacturers, like VW say that they will not completely phase out PVC as long as there are no legal requirements to do so. In the meantime, the society has to pay for the disposal costs and the environmental harm caused by PVC used in cars. According to car manufacturers, on the one hand, the additional costs of replacing PVC are 25 - 100 US$ per car. These are likely to drop further as alternatives become more readily available.

By simplifying the choice of materials recycling and waste management costs are reduced. (Butschbacher, 1993). Although, it is difficult to calculate the exact contribution of PVC to the total disposal costs of a car, it is apparent the use of non-chlorinated plastics are beneficial. The costs for flue gas cleaning when burning PVC waste are significant, not to mention the health and environmental damage caused by hazardous emissions. The potential costs to combat organochlorine and dioxin emissions from steel recycling would be tremendous if industry were forced to pay. Why pay for treatment which only creates new problems, when the problem can be avoided by simply substituting PVC?

Environment policy of the European Community is based on the "precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay" (Article 130r, EC-Treaty). It is therefore not acceptable that the society should pay for the environmental damage from end-of-life vehicle waste and its treatment. This is the basis of Extended Producer Responsibility where the producer is financially responsible for the take-back of products at the end of their useful lives.

This is in accord with the EU Waste Policy which advocates: "A preventive waste policy which aims at preventing generation of waste must begin with the product and production process (...) The manufacturer is the one to take key decisions concerning the waste management potential of his product, such as design, conception, use of specific materials, composition of the product and finally its marketing (...) In particular cases waste prevention might lead to the need for EC-wide rules to limit the presence of heavy metals in products or in the production process or ban specific substances in order to prevent, at a later stage, the generation of hazardous waste" (European Commission, 1996).

* The disposal of PVC in cars is a major source of dioxin emissions. PVC in underbody coating contaminates steel recycling and leads to substantial emissions of dioxins and other toxic organochlorines from steelworks. Special end-of-pipe filters to combat dioxins from steelworks are not installed due to their tremendous costs and their inefficiency when dealing with such large emission volumes. PVC in the light fraction is a precursor for the formation of dioxins and other toxic organochlorines. The burning of these in thermal waste disposal processes (incinerators, cement kilns) or in landfill fires, generates hazardous wastes and emissions.

* PVC leaks hazardous and possibly endocrine- disrupting substances during use and disposal. PVC-plastisol in underbody coating contains around 30% of phthalates. Phthalates are known to be toxic and some phthalates have been shown to be weak endocrine disruptors. Phthalates are released by carwashing, wear and tear and in rainy weather from PVC-underbody coating. Soft PVC as used in the interior and for cables contains up to 50% of phthalates, which can be released to the environment when landfilled. PVC in cars furthermore often contains hazardous additives such as toxic heavy metals, which can be released to the environment when incinerated or landfilled.

* Most PVC in cars cannot be recycled - causing severe waste disposal problems. About 40% of PVC are used as underbody coating and are not available for recycling since it cannot be dismantled. About 30% of PVC are used in cables, which are similarly not available for recycling because they cannot be dismantled. Another 30% of PVC are used in the car interior -mainly as composite materials or with a large variety of additives which makes recycling almost impossible. What is possible to dismantle has not yet been proven to be successfully recycled into similar quality material. So far, other PVC recycling projects have been unsuccessful. For example, after five years of industry efforts the ‘global’ PVC recycling quota in Germany has achieved less than 2% material recycling relative to PVC consumption.

* Incineration of PVC is a net generator of hazardous wastes. Pure PVC has a chlorine content of 57%. When incinerated, the chlorine is transformed into hydrochloric acid. This acid needs to be neutralised - thus creating huge amounts of contaminated salts for disposal. The amount of salt waste from 1 kg of PVC in municipal incinerators is estimated to be at least 1 - 2 kg. Apart from the risk of dioxin formation, incineration of PVC creates more hazardous waste than before incineration.

* Less environmentally damaging alternatives are available. Less environmentally damaging halogen-free alternatives to PVC use in cars are available and already being used in many cases. Some selected examples: Mercedes-Benz has phased out PVC in underbody coating and interior trim in all new cars since summer 1995. Nissan has developed an alternative for PVC cables that will be used in their cars starting 1997. Volvo is phasing out all PVC as a precautionary measure where appropriate alternatives are available.

* Common standards are needed. Only a ban on PVC and other hazardous materials can ensure that more progressive car producers who replace PVC do not suffer competitive disadvantages.

* Extended producer responsibility is needed. It is not acceptable that the society should pay and the environment be contaminated by PVC in end-of-life vehicle waste and its treatment. It is the responsibility of the producers to be financially responsible for material management at the end of a product’s lifetime. Only producers can design products with safer materials. Full waste management costs should reflect back to the producer to stimulate better eco-design.

* The European Parliament has requested legislation on cars and PVC reductions.

* The European Commission has committed to ban specific substances in order not to generate hazardous waste.

* The European Council of Ministers has reiterated its conviction that waste prevention should be the first priority to minimize the quantity and the hazardous properties of waste.

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