The Disposal and Recycling of Scrap Metal from Cars and Large Domestic Appliances

97 Pages·1978·7.83 MB·English

by  (auth.)

The Disposal and Recycling of Scrap
Metal from Cars and Large Domestic
Appliances
A report on the amount of scrap metal arising from scrap
cars and large domestic appliances and the facilities for
waste disposal. processing and recycling in the countries
of the European Community. prepared for the·
Environment and Consumer Protection Service of the
Commission of the European Communities by Europool.
Brussels.
Published by Graham&Trotman Limited
for the Commission of the European Communities
Published in 1978 by
Graham & Trotman limited
Bond Street House, 14 CI ifford Street
london WIX 1R D, United Kingdom
Reprint ofthe original edition 1978
for the Commission of the European Communities, Directorate
General Scientific and Te chnicallnformation and Information
Management, luxembourg
© ECSC, EEC, EAEC, luxembourg, 1978
ISBN-13: 978-94-009-9657-1 e-ISBN-13:978-94-009-9655-7
DOl: 10.lO07/978-94-009-9655-7
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Contents
Page
The task 1
The growth in numbers of cars 4
The number of broken-down cars 14
Broken-down cars and volumes of scrap 19
The problem of domestic appliances 22
The developments in steelmaking processes and their effect
on the demand for scrap 30
Requirements deriving from the scrap market 37
Requirements of the steel industry concerning scrap qualities 40
The effects of scrap properties on the steel quality 44
The collection of broken-down cars and appliances 56
Scrap preparation techniques 58
Shredding 60
Costs inherent in the shredding process 61
The role of transport costs 64
The cold shredder: a special method 65
Old tyres and their disposal 80
Legal questions in the marginal field of economy and ecology 84
Tables
Number of cars - Five-year cycle
2 Number of private cars in the countries of the Community from
1960 to 1972
3 Change in numbers of cars with a continuous reduction in
growth rate (1st hypothesis)
4 Change in numbers of cars with a continuous reduction in
growth rate (2nd hypothesis)
5 Proportion of sheet in the output of, or capacities for,
finished rolled steel products
6 Crude steel capacities in the Community of the Six
7 Proportions of the different steelmaking processes in crude
steel production
Total crude steel production and total scrap consumption,
comparing 1960 with 1973
9 Scrap consumption in the individual steelmaking processes as
an average for the years 1970 - 1972
10 Proportions of total scrap consumption of the ECSC by country
11 Scrap consumption in Community States as a percentage of
their share in steel production
12 Shredder plants - Netherlands
13 Shredder plants - France
14 Shredder plants - Federal Republic of Germany
15 Shredder plants - Italy
- 1 -
The task
"The elimination of industrial and consumer wastes is proving
increasingly difficult and costly and is posing complex problems for
all the municipal authorities concerned." This statement from the Action
Programme of the European Community for the Protection of the Environment
(Official Journal of the European Communities No. C 112 of 20 December
1973 - Chap. 7 Sect. 1 A) is particularly appropriate to the subject
dealt with here. The ecological problem arising from industrial and
consumer wastes as well as the costs for their removal differ widely.
In addition, the degree of pollution of the environment can vary con
siderably depending on how the waste is treated: for example, incineration
causes a pollution of the air which did not exist before, while the soil
is polluted through disposing of rubbish on tips.
In accordance with the terms of the Action Programme (Part II,
Title I, Chapter 7), this study deals with "Bulky ferrous scrap in the
general context of the scrap market (cars, discarded household domestic
appliances, etc.)". The environmental problems caused by these wastes
are particularly difficult to overcome, since the latter are not only
particularly unsightly, but also extremely heterogeneous.
It is hardly necessary to make special mention of how strong an
impact abandoned cars and household equipment make on people. However,
let us dispel, right away, the widely held belief that most of the broken
down cars and appliances lying around the countryside have no owner. The
proportion in each country of the Community varies, and differs even from
one region to another. Generally speaking, however, the number of vehicles
defacing the landscape amounts to only a few per cent of the cars withdrawn
from circulation. In any case, it is impossible to obtain exact figures and
we have to rely on estimates. It is reckoned that they represent between
5 and 7 % of the total number withdrawn from circulation. Thus, the majority is
already accounted for nowadays. But 5 % of the 500 000 to 1 000 000 cars
scrapped every year still gives us 25 000 or 50 000 abandoned at the road-
side or in forest clearings. This is not therefore simply a question of
being a nuisance from the aesthetic angle. These vehicles become "dwellings"
for tramps and dangerous toys for children. Moreover, their removal is
exceptionally expensive. To remove them requires a special vehicle while
the objects themselves, although bulky, have a very low density. In
- 2 -
addition, the question of whether a vehicle was wrongly abandoned by its
owner or was stolen galvanises a whole battery of authorities into action.
With old domestic appliances such problems do not arise, but they also
cause many similar difficulties when simply dumped at random.
These facts must be borne in mind in order to deal with the problem
of broken-down cars and appliances. In this connection the public authori
ties must be guided by one basic idea: action by them should not upset the
machinery of private collection and processing which has been operating
smoothly now for many years. The present investigation will show that the
scrap trade in the Community countries has everywhere developed a sur
prisingly efficient network of collecting and cannibalising businesses,
scrap suppliers and dealers. In this connection, Italy may be considered
as a special case. Here, a large number of scrap merchants are also owners
of steel and rolling mills, while in the other countries metalworks usually
have their own scrap dealing organisations.
The fact that public authorities do not involve themselves in the
private collection and processing business does not prevent them from
taking supporting measures to promote this system. When we said that the
disposal of metal scrap was extremely expensive, we were referring to the
exceptionally fast-rising transport charges and to the high capital costs
of the processing businesses. The investigation will show in detail that,
under the pressure of rising labour costs, businesses engaged in the
cannibalisation of old cars and bulky household appliances have turned
to processes which are increasingly capital-intensive. This is the pOint
at which the demarcation line between the public and private sectors
begins: present-day capital-intensive processing plants require a continuous
supply of material which is converted and returned to the iron and steel
industry and the non-ferrous metals industries. When the demand for metals
is very high, as is the case at the time of writing this report, the yields
are sufficiently rewarding to cover the amortisation of the plants. It is
expected that ferrous and non-ferrous metals will remain scarce for a
considerable time yet. This assumption is based directly on the relation
ship between growing consumption and lagging production capacity, as well
as on the fact that recycled metals in the form of scrap save primary
energy compared with conversion from virgin ore.
- 3 -
This, however, does not prevent the scrap market from being affected
by wide fluctuations. The storage cycle must meet the economic need to
keep capital-intensive plants working continuously. This is when supporting
measures by the public authorities, as mentioned above, are particularly
necessary. For example, this may be done by making special conditions
concerning the volume of scrap per unit of area (as laid down in German
legislation) or providing particular areas for the collection of bulky
metal waste (as in the Netherlands) or by considering a levy on the car
buyer to cover its subsequent disposal. Freight subsidies for removal of
broken-down cars also come under this category of decision.
At European level, export control of scrap has been operating for
some time. It has been found helpful to exempt shredder scrap, together with
minor grades, from the general prohibition on scrap export. The Community's
scrap industry must always be in a position to export scrap to third
countries. This is the only way of ensuring a regular flow of scrap metal
by long-term cultivation of the market. This will also ensure that scrapped
vehicles and appliances do not rot away on rubbish tips but return to the
steel cycle.
- 4 -
The growth in numbers of cars
In the last ten years, the growth in numbers of cars in the highly
industrialised countries of the Community has slowed down sharply. Any
extrapolation of the change in number of cars must therefore be based
on very low growth rates, at least for Great Britain, France, the
Federal Republic and the Benelux area. In Italy, where there is still
scope for considerable industrialisation, the numbers could rise faster
than in the other member countries in the cOming years. An increase
slightly higher than the growth rate of the large member countries can
be assumed for Denmark.
The following cases were calculated on the basis of the number of
private cars including estate cars in existence at the beginning of 1973:
1.) An annual growth rate of 2.5 % in Great Britain, France, the
Federal Republic of Germany and the Benelux countries, 3.5 % in Italy
and 3.0 % in Denmark. For the Republic of Ireland, 2.5 % is assumed.
This would give the following totals for 1980 (in thousands):
Great Britain 15 721
France 16 838
Federal Republic of Germany 19 757
Belgium/Luxemburg 2 850
Netherlands 3 755
Italy 16 427
Denmark 1 454
Ireland 433
77 235
2.) The concept of car density (persons per car/estate car) permits
another approximation. The following initial values for the beginning of
1 )
1973 can be employed for this purpose
1) Source: Tatsachen und Zahlen aus der Kraftverkehrswirtschaft
(Facts and figures from the motor transport industry), 37th edition, 1973
- 5 -
Great Britain 4.3
France 3.7
Federal Republic of Germany 3.8
Belgium/Luxemburg 4.3
Netherlands 4.3
Italy 4.4
Denmark 4.4
Ireland 8.4
With the exception of Ireland (8.4), the values for the eight EEC
countries lie relatively close together. When the question of density
achieved in 1980 arises, it is not at all clear whether the values will
still be grouped as closely as before, or if some countries will have a
greater or lesser density of vehicles, depending on their national product,
urban areas and the average distances to be travelled. Forecasts can only
be approximate and based on various assumptions.
The different initial data for the individual countries should be
considered here. In Italy at the end of 1972, according to a study by
Ing. Minola in "Strade e Traffico", the number of persons per vehicle
was, at 4.0, somewhat lower than the values obtained from German statistics.
Minola assumes that by 1977 the number of persons per vehicle will fall to
3.1. In 1973 the United States had a density of 2.2 persons per private
car or estate car. However, the numbers in the USA cannot be
simply applied to European conditions.
A study published in 1970 by S. de Jong in "rai" (official journal
of the Dutch association "de rijwiel- en automobil-industrien ) also con
tains a calculation based on the increase in density, with a forecast
for 1980. It gives 4.8 million private cars for the Netherlands in 1980.
The basis for this is the view that from the year of "mass motorisation"
there is a regular increase in car density (persons per car) for about
ten years. "Mass motorisation" is considered to be around 7.5 persons/car.
The individual countries reached this stage during the following years:
- 6 -
Federal Republic of Germany: End of 1963 with 7.4
Netherlands: " " 1966 with 7.8
Belgium: " " 1964 with 7.7
..
France: " 1962 with 7.5
Denmark: II " 1963 with 7.8
Italy: " II 1966 with 7.6
Great Britain: " II 1964 with 7.4
Ireland: not yet reached
The trend in motorisation density from the year of mass motorisation
follows the simplified formula below:
1 000
D
14.4 t + 131. 7
D Number of persons per car
t Number of years after the start of mass motorisation.
According to this the member countries (apart from the Republic of
Ireland, not included here) would have reached the following densities
in 1975:
Federal Republic of Germany 3.28
Netherlands 3.82
Belgium/Luxemburg 3.45
France 3.14
Denmark 3.28
Italy 3.82
Great Britain 3.45
Assuming, no doubt justifiably, that populations would have changed
very little by 1975, the numbers of private cars and estate cars in 1975
would be as follows:
Federal Republic of Germany 18 802 000
Netherlands 3 490 000
Belgium/Luxemburg 2 916 000
France 16 478 000
Denmark 1 524 000