Stacked field: European auto shredder list and map

The growth of auto shredding in Europe has occurred alongside the growth of the technology in the U.S., where the auto shredder was first introduced in 1958.

When affiliated publication Recycling Today published a comprehensive count of auto shredders around the world in 2001, it used a figure of 202 shredders in the 28 nations that are now part of the European Union (EU), based on data from the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Brussels.

What follows is Recycling Today Global Edition’s inaugural list of auto shredding locations in those 28 member states, plus shredding locations in Norway. This information was provided by a number of sources. A base list of locations was provided by the Bureau of International Recycling in cooperation with the European Shredder Group of the European Ferrous Recycling & Recovery Federation, with additional information provided by ARGE-Shredder GmbH (Austria), FEDEREC (Fédération des Entreprises du Recyclage, France), BDSV (Germany), Metaal Recycling Federatie of Netherlands, RecycleMetals.org (U.K.), and direct reporting by companies.

Scott Newell, CEO of The Shredder Company, based in Texas in the United States, is the son of Alton Newell, who patented a number of auto shredding innovations in the late 1950s. Newelll says one of Europe’s first auto shredders was sold to Bob Sheppard of United Kingdom-based Sheppard Recycling in the late 1960s. The company was the forerunner of what is now the EMR Group. The 3,000-horsepower Lindemann-Newell shredder was installed in St. Helens, England, Newell says.

Newell became a familiar brand throughout Europe in the late 1960s, after Alton’s company partnered with Lindemann Engineering of Germany, Europe’s largest manufacturer of shears and hydraulic processing equipment for the industry, says Scott Newell.

“We licensed Lindemann to build shredders according to my father’s patents,” says Newell. The agreement ensued for the next 17 years, says Newell, during which he helped the company sell close to 50 machines throughout Europe.

The shredding concept caught on quickly, Newell says, as recyclers began to realize, “shredding was the way to process scrap metal,” he says. “It produced the best metal and it did it the most efficiently.”

After the original licensing agreement was completed, Newell went on to sell another 40 shredders in Europe during the late 1980s and through the 1990s, he says.

The number of shredders has grown dramatically over the ensuing decades, resulting in what is now 352 shredders within the EU plus Norway, according to the BIR; the European Ferrous Recycling and Recovery Federation, and its shredder group, the European Shredder Group.

However some believe it is likely reductions may occur in the coming years, as a number of changes are on the horizon for European shredder operators.

Ross Bartley, BIR environment and technical director and environmental and technical officer of the European Shredder Group, says 2015 targets set by Europe’s End-of-Life Vehicles Directive may have an impact. At that time, all EU shredders will be required to achieve a 95% recycling/recovery rate on end of life vehicles.

In addition, a number of groups have been drafting the EU Shredder Best Available Techniques Reference Document (BREF). Expected to be finalized by the end of 2014, the document will, among other things, set new industrial emissions limits for all EU shredders.
 

Bartley says the legislation and the document could have a significant impact on shredder operators in the coming years, possibly leading to closures of companies that don’t meet the new standards.

Heiner Guschall, director of shredder systems integration company SICON of Germany, holds a similar view. “There are going to be huge changes in the business,” he says referring to the fact that some European plants may be overdue for upgrades. “We’ll see how many shredders do this and if this high level of investment can be justified. Definitely there are some challenges for the industry in the next few years.”

Guschall also says Europe’s first larger shredders—those with at least 6,000 horsepower—were installed after 2000. Today, there are around a dozen such shredders in the EU, including two mega shredders in the U.K., one of which wasn’t operating at press time because of a lack of feedstock.

On that note, Guschall says Europe’s shredding capacity, much like in the U.S., is excessive and likely to contract in the coming years. Part of this may occur from attrition, with smaller shredders closing after acquisition by larger companies.

As of 2014, however, some 350 auto shredders are operating in the EU-28 member states and Norway, handling a task that has become emblematic of the scrap recycling industry.

It is our intention to provide the most accurate and comprehensive list possible. If you spot errors or omissions in the maps and list below, please let us know. Send an email to Lisa McKenna at lmckenna@gie.net and we’ll include the information in a future issue.

Interactive Maps of Auto Shredders in the European Union and Norway

These interactive online maps complement our inaugural list of auto shredders located within the 28 member states of the European Union plus Norway.

The base list of shredding companies and locations for 2014 was provided by the Bureau of International Recycling in cooperation with the European Shredder Group of the European Ferrous Recycling & Recovery Federation, with additional information provided by ARGE-Shredder GmbH (Austria), FEDEREC (Fédération des Entreprises du Recyclage, France), BDSV (Germany), Metaal Recycling Federatie of Netherlands, RecycleMetals.org (U.K.), and direct reporting by companies.

Here you will find maps showing the locations of the 352 currently operating auto shredders in the EU-28 and Norway. Click on the navigational symbols in each map to see company names and plant locations.

The first map shows shredding plants in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France: 

View European Auto Shredders Map (West) in a full screen map

The second map shows shredding plants in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden:

View European Auto Shredders Map (East) in a full screen map

The author is managing editor of Recycling Today Global Edition.