2.5%
Look around you during the morning rush hour: each year, 2.5% of all those cars will go to a dismantling company to be professionally dismantled. It is not an exaggeration to say that car recycling in the Netherlands is ‘world class’, both in terms of the level of recycling and the organisation of the entire process.
When the time comes for your car, the almost 300 partners in the ARN chain will ensure that almost 100% of your vehicle is reused or given a useful application. There are four essential steps in that process:
1: Deregistration for dismantling – You take your car to a car dismantling company affiliated with ARN that registers your car for dismantling with the RDW.
2: Dismantling – The employees of the car dismantling company dismantle and sell all the reusable parts. Batteries, fuel tanks and all fluids will also be removed and recycled, where applicable by specialised firms. For instance, the tyres are used to make paving stones. Batteries are used for energy storage. The oil in the car is used to create base oil for lubricants.
3: Shredding – Dismantled cars are pulverised at the shredding company. Metals such as iron, copper and aluminium are recovered. The metal-processing industry convert these metals into high quality new steel and aluminium, for instance.
4: Post shredder technology (PST) – Everything remaining after shredding is sent to the PST plant. Advanced technologies are used to separate the residual substances into plastics, minerals, fibres and metals.
The car industry uses these substances to make new bumpers, for instance. Innovative manufacturers are constantly developing new applications, such as sheet piling and railway sleepers.
Sustainable Development Goals
For the second year, ARN has submitted itself to the yardstick of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the motto ‘lean and green’ in mind. The colored SDGs shown opposite apply specifically to the content of this page.
Our endeavours
As we have already made clear, car recycling is at a very high level in the Netherlands. In order to achieve responsible and high-quality recycling, ARN and its chain partners give attention to the following matters:
- Second use of batteries from end-of-life electric cars
- High quality recycling techniques of waste flows in order to reduce energy consumption
- A further reduction in the energy consumption of the PST plant in Tiel
- Constant research into high quality applications for materials from cars, such as the development of dam retaining walls made from recycled plastic.
- Providing information to consumers about how the collection network works.
- Combatting unfair competition and leakage flows in conjunction with car dismantling companies and RDW