The 223 car dismantling companies affiliated with the ARN dismantled 196,252 vehicles in 2017; 11,000 more than in 2016. In 2017, the post shredder technology factory in Tiel succeeded in selling recycled raw materials.
Tekst ARN Redactie
In 2017, ARN managed to tap into new markets for recycled raw materials derived from waste from shredder companies in Tiel. Together with the plastics company Duvano in Oss, ARN developed a new application: plastic retaining walls along waterfronts. “We get calls about this daily,” says ARN spokesman Martijn Boelhouwer. It’s a durable product with a life span of 40 years. Until recently, hardwood was mostly used for this, which has a life span of 20 years. The price is also affordable and the water authorities are very interested in this new product.”
Increasingly more efficient
Thanks to the income earned from the sale of residual raw materials, the costs incurred by ARN in the Post Shredder Technology (PST) factory have decreased. In terms of costs, the factory will not break-even in the short term, says Boelhouwer. “The factory is necessary to increase the percentage of recycled car weight to 95 percent, which is the amount agreed on on the European level. We are becoming increasingly more efficient because we learn more every day about how to do things better. We have already achieved a percentage of 98.7, but 100 percent recycling is not a viable possibility yet, not only financially, but also in terms of CO2 emissions during the recycling process.”
“Of course, we consider more than just the numbers,” says Boelhouwer. “Our goal is as high quality reuse of materials from dismantled cars as possible. The changes that have been made to car designs over the years have a major impact on this.” Cars have a service life of around 18 years, so the cars being dismantled today were manufactured around the turn of the century. “Imagine a Saab from that time,” says Boelhouwer. “With those thick plastic bumpers. They don’t make cars like that these days. In fact, the self-driving cars of the near future will probably not need any bumpers at all.”
Three-step dismantlement
In 2017, it takes three steps to dismantle a car.
Around 28 percent of the car weight remains at the dismantling companies that receive the vehicles. These companies sell parts. Overhauled parts are, of course, the best form of recycling.Once the tyres, fluids and fuel tanks have been removed, the car wreck is sent to the shredder company. In 2017, the 11 shredder companies affiliated with ARN processed more than 56 percent of vehicle weight into materials for reuse, such as iron, copper and aluminium.Around 15 percent of the original car remains after that. The remainder is sent to the PST factory in Tiel. The separation factory splits the remainders into twenty raw materials that can be used for new products. What remains after that is incinerated.
Disposal fee
In 2017, 414,370 new cars and commercial vehicles were sold. This is an important number for ARN because, for every new car sold, the buyer has to pay a disposal fee of 42.50 euros. That contribution enables ARN to do its work.
The financing of the car recycling process by consumers as is done in the Netherlands is unique. Apart from paying for the daily work, ARN and its chain partners can continue to respond to the challenges that arise due to technological developments in the automobile industry. With the unprecedentedly high recycling percentage that is achieved, ARN’s chain partners have made a world-class achievement – not only today, but also in the interesting future to come.
Cars have a service life of around 18 years, so the cars being dismantled today were manufactured around the turn of the century.
Five years of car dismantling in figures
YearNumber of online notifications for car dismantling registration (ORAD) via ARNTotal number of ORAD notificationsPercentage of ARN in total2013192,433232,72082.7%2014188,279226,10383.3%2015185,110213,63986.6%2016185,740216,28185.9%2017196,252234,59583.7%
ARN will be presenting its 2017 annual report shortly. Interested in reading it? Register here to be informed once it is published.The 2017 Sustainability Report can be found here
A Saab 900 from 1995: we don’t make cars like this anymore
