EMR urges closing ‘loophole’ that allows vehicles to be recycled without traceability in the UK or exported for ‘reuse’

With the recent appointment of Tim Moss as chief executive of the U.K.’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), effective March 31, EMR Managing Director for Technology and Innovation Roger Morton is calling for a policy change to prevent the loss of what he says is nearly 1 million metric tons of steel annually.  

“We hope that eliminating the significant loophole in the DVLA system that leads to a loss of up to 1 million [metric tons] of end-of-life vehicles containing steel, aluminum and other valuable raw materials, is high on his priority list,” Morton says of Moss.

Vehicles are moved into trade status when they are traded in with a dealer, for example. U.K. residents also can bring end-of-life vehicles to an authorized treatment facility for recycling and must inform the DVLA when they do so.

“Vehicles moved into ‘trade’ status can currently either be recycled without traceability in the U.K. or exported for ‘reuse’ in developing countries,” Morton continues. “This lost material is vital in supporting the U.K.’s industrial infrastructure, particularly the recently approved electric arc furnace at Port Talbot, Wales, and we need to make sure it’s safely, compliantly and responsibly recycled by approved facilities—with full traceability.”

Tata Steel UK, the owner of the Port Talbot facility to which Morton refers, is in the process of converting one of the U.K.’s two iron-fed blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) mills into a recycled-content EAF facility.

Jingye Group, the owner of British Steel—the U.K.’s other blast furnace-based producer—also is in negotiations for funding to finalize BOF-to-EAF conversion plans for its mill in Scunthorpe, England.

Morton adds that closing the loophole will require policy changes by the Department for Transport and software investment at the DVLA.

“However, it will bring significant benefits for taxation and help retain valuable resources within the U.K.," he says.