Car Disposal: No one will be surprised to learn that the number of vehicles on our roads increased by 60 per cent between 1990 and the year 2000 and that the number is still growing.
Congestion is a major problem in itself but there is an even more critical problem developing in tandem with vehicle population growth - the methods of disposal of these cars, vans and trucks when they reach the end of their working lives.
Given our appalling record of vehicle disposal - a drive even through scenic areas will reveal the rusting carcasses of everything from cars to tractors and trucks - it's as well that the EU has stepped in and introduced legislation, providing for the correct disposal of vehicles and for the punishment of offenders. Something had to be done: it is now estimated that the European Union now produces seven million scrap cars every year and that that figure will rise to some ten million a year by 2015.
In May 2000 the Directive on End of Life Vehicles was introduced and it forces car manufacturers to take back and scrap their cars after the owner is finished with them. The logic was that unless the industry was linked directly to their waste product, then the impetus to force the car industry to produce more and more recyclable materials in cars would not be a strong one. In fairness, some manufacturers have been better than others - over 8 per cent of some Ford and Volvo cars can be re-cycled.
The directive comes into effect in January 2007 and it will force the industry to take back all cars sold after July 2002 and then all cars - regardless of registration date - from January 2007. By next year the proportion of every new car - by weight - which can be re-cycled will have to be 85 per cent and by that time also the proportion of the car which can be re-used or recovered will have to reach a figure of 95 per cent.
So what happens in Ireland? Well there is really no room for negotiation on the provisions of the European legislation, which have a federal effect, but there is a major disagreement on who is going to pay for all this.
It is estimated that to "treat" a car - remove hazardous waste such as fluids and oil and remove plastics, glass and so on and then shred it will cost between €130 and €150.
The Government wants the car industry to pay the fee for every car and so too do the people who operate the facilities that will dispose of the car. The car industry says that the "recovery" operators will actually make money - at least €100 - when they cannibalise the vehicle, so they would be paid almost on the double, so why should it pay ?
Interestingly, there was a proposal to levy all motorists to the tune of €150 when they bought their new cars and this was to be forwarded towards the cost of disposal of the car. "The problem was the Government could not agree which department would raise the levy, so it went by the board", said another source involved in the negotiations.
Now there is a stand-off on the issue. However, some other aspects of the proposed disposal system have been agreed. Tenders will be sought for the disposal operations along the same lines as the NCT testing system.
But there are other problems facing the implementation of the system. A recent Environmental Protection Agency report points to the chaotic records of whether vehicles have reached their end of life stage because there is no formal de-registration system in place. The report also draws attention to the fact that the residue from auto shredders is now hazardous waste and needs to be disposed of properly.
Other countries are well ahead of Ireland in properly disposing of their vehicles. In Holland the percentage of a car - by weight - being disposed of as auto shredder waste was 26 per cent. By 1997 that had dropped to just 14 per cent. By the end of this year virtually all shredder waste will be recovered in Denmark and in Austria the system for disposing of cars in an environmentally way has been an agreed voluntary system that was first agreed in 1992.