Car-recycling results
98.7% per cent of end-of-life vehicles put to good use
It’s a figure that speaks for itself. When an end-of-life vehicle is taken to a car-dismantling company, no less than 98.7 per cent, by weight, will be reused, recycled or channelled to another useful application. In this respect, ARN and its approximately 300 recycling partners, lead the way in Europe.
Reuse, recycling and useful applications
Some parts of an end-of-life vehicle, such as gearboxes or headlights, are suitable for reuse. Various links in the recycling chain process materials that are recovered from end-of-life vehicles into reusable basic materials, such as metals, fibres and plastics. The vast majority of end-of-life vehicles can be reused or recycled. In 2021 that amounted, all told, to 87.3 per cent of the total weight of all end-of-life vehicles.
A second category comprises materials that cannot be reused, but can be put to another good use. An example of this is energy recovery through combustion. In 2021, this came to a total of 11.4 per cent of the total weight of all end-of-life vehicles.
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Reuse of materials
Recycled materials are channelled into a plethora of new applications. For example, GS-Recycling, a waste-fluids processor, makes new products from fluids, such as base oil for the production of lubricants. Plastics separated in the PST (Post-Shredder Technology) factory are given a new lease of life, such as in the form of bumpers for new cars. New batteries are made from the lead recovered from starter batteries, while granulate from car tyres is processed into, among other things, circular rubber drainage tiles.
Towards full circularity
Eventually, only a very small percentage is sent to landfill. In 2021, it was just 1.3 per cent of the total weight of end-of-life vehicles. ARN is working towards making it possible to continue recycling cars responsibly, and to a high-value.
For more results see our 2021 Sustainability Report.
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