Consortium for Automotive Recycling (CARE) is a collaborative project involving the main UK motor vehicle manufacturers/importers and vehicle dismantlers. Through raising awareness and supporting research on materials re-use and recycling processes, the project aims to reduce the amount of End of Life Vehicle (ELV) waste going to landfill.
This work is being carried out to meet the requirements of the European Union directive on ELVs. The directive lays down targets for re-use, recycling and recovery of vehicles and components, and a series of conditions on how those targets should be achieved.
In line with the EU target, vehicle manufacturers’ approved networks of Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATFs) have achieved 85% re-use, recycling and recovery of materials from ELVs each year from 2006, (when the requirement came into force) and 95% since 2015, in line with the regulation requirements.
Disposing of your old car
If you have a vehicle that you want to dispose of, you should contact one of the two national vehicle recycling networks (Autogreen or Cartakeback) that work with the UK’s car manufacturers and importers.
You can locate your nearest ATF, where the car can be taken for free disposal, by using the postcode finder on each of the scheme’s websites or by calling either of the contact telephone number shown below.
CarTakeBack – www.cartakeback.com or 0845 2573 233
Rewarding Recycling – www.rewardingrecycling.co.uk
All licensed ATFs are obliged to issue the last owner with a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) to ensure that the last owner’s responsibilities (road tax, etc) are ended by updating the record held at DVLA when the vehicle is destroyed.
Using a scrap yard which is not able to issue a CoD could mean that an ELV is not disposed of correctly and recycled to EU target levels.
The lack of a CoD also means that the vehicle record is still ‘Live’ on the DVLA database, which could lead to the last registered owner being liable for traffic offence penalties and VED costs if the car or its registration number are used illegally.
Click through for information on recycling your vehicle’s battery.
