Saying goodbye to your old banger will no longer hit you in the back pocket thanks to European legislation that came into full force yesterday. Instead of drivers paying to scrap their wheels, manufacturers will pick up the tab. The End of Life Vehicles Directive is intended to reduce pollution and waste by encouraging more recycling of materials from scrapped cars. Motorists had paid scrapyards up to £50 to dispose of their rusting hulks but with manufacturers covering the cost, the government and environmentalists hope fewer cars will be dumped - which has created thousands of tonnes of toxic waste a year. Car manufacturers have already been paying for the recycling of cars made after 2002, but they will now cover all models and makes, whatever their age.

There are 30m motor vehicles on Britain's roads and around 2m are scrapped each year. The European legislation sets a target for 80% of the material to be reused or recycled, rising to 85% in 2015. The change was brought in despite protests from car manufacturers, who said when the law was proposed that it would bankrupt them. "As 2007 gets under way, it is the perfect time to look at ways we can all do our bit to help the environment," said Malcolm Wicks, the science and innovation minister. "With such an extensive network of facilities in place to receive scrap cars, there is now an increased incentive for cars to be treated responsibly." Two national service providers, Autogreen and Cartakeback, will handle the scrapped vehicles. They will issue certificates of destruction to owners, who can then use them to deregister their vehicles from the DVLA database.
(By James Randerson, The Guardian, 02/02/2007)
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,1981074,00.html