Car Recycling and the Environment

A scrapped car is not simply crushed. By law it has to go to an authorised treatment facility, which removes the hazardous parts and fluids before the rest is recycled or recovered. This page explains that process, based on UK government guidance.

When a car becomes waste

A car that is being scrapped is classed as an end-of-life vehicle (ELV), which means it is waste. An ELV must be depolluted by an authorised treatment facility (ATF) and, where required, issued with a Certificate of Destruction (Environment Agency: when a motor vehicle is waste). It is illegal to scrap a vehicle anywhere other than an ATF (GOV.UK).

An end-of-life vehicle that has not been fully depolluted is hazardous waste.

Authorised treatment facilities

In England, a site that treats end-of-life vehicles needs:

planning permission from the local council;
an environmental permit for the treatment it carries out;
a scrap metal dealer's licence from the local council.

The Environment Agency approves the site as an ATF, and its details appear on a public register (Environment Agency: ELV guidance for waste sites). Other UK nations have their own environmental regulators.

Depollution

Before a vehicle is dismantled or crushed, the ATF must depollute it. That means removing:

the battery and the fuel;
the wheels, tyres and lead balance weights;
any liquefied gas tank;
liquids, including coolant, antifreeze, brake fluid, air-conditioning gas, shock absorber fluid and screen wash;
engine, gearbox, transmission and hydraulic oils, and the oil filter;
parts containing mercury, such as some switches;
the catalytic converter.

Airbags and seat-belt pre-tensioners are either removed or safely set off inside the vehicle.

Reuse, recycling and recovery

The ELV regulations aim to cut the waste created when vehicles are scrapped. They encourage the recovery, reuse and recycling of metals, plastics and rubber, and they set recovery and recycling targets (GOV.UK: end-of-life vehicle regulations). In practice:

parts in good condition can be removed and reused to repair other vehicles;
metals are separated and sent for recycling;
certain plastic and rubber parts have to be marked to help them be recovered, reused or recycled;
manufacturers and importers must provide networks of treatment facilities offering free take-back of their own brands.

An ATF can also decide a vehicle is worth repairing and selling rather than scrapping. In that case it is not destroyed, and no Certificate of Destruction is issued.

The Certificate of Destruction

When an ATF depollutes and scraps a car, light goods vehicle under 3.5 tonnes or three-wheeled vehicle, it issues a Certificate of Destruction through DVLA's system. The ATF should not charge you for issuing it. The certificate is your proof that the vehicle went to a registered ATF and is no longer on the road, so keep it indefinitely.

You still need to tell DVLA yourself, as the registered keeper, that the vehicle has gone to an ATF. See how it works: paperwork.

What you can do

Leave the car complete. Removing essential parts can mean a fee from the facility and lowers its value.
If you want to keep parts to repair another vehicle you own, remove them without polluting, for example without letting oil or fluids soak into the ground or enter drains (GOV.UK).
Use a service that takes the vehicle to an authorised treatment facility, and keep the Certificate of Destruction.

Which vehicles can be scrapped through us is set out on cars we accept.

Scrap your car the right way

Enter the registration and postcode, or call us, for a free, no-obligation valuation from the collection company covering your area.

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