Can't pay or won't pay

By Karen Hoggan BBC reporter

About two million cars reach the end of their lives each year most of them because of old age.

Under the European Union End of Life Vehicle Directive, due to become law on 21 April, car manufacturers are expected to pick up most if not all of the bill for disposing of them.

The idea is that from later this year manufacturers will have to take back all worthless new cars - for example, ones that have been written off - and pay to get rid of them.

From 2007 they would have to do the same for all cars.

Who benefits?

The car manufacturers are not happy at the prospect.

As people are having to transfer vehicles further and further to find a treatment facility to accept them, I don't think... the last owners would be prepared to accept that cost

John Hesketh
President, Vehicle Dismantlers' Association

Many people, they say, benefit from cars during their lifetimes, from the insurance industry, through the government via taxes to car owners themselves, and they should contribute too.

Al Clarke, a spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says: "We believe that everybody who gets benefit from a car should pay for the recycling of the car at the end of its life - that's quite simply the way forward.

"How we implement that and how we ensure that everyone pays their way - that's the government's challenge."

If the cars have any scrap value the car industry wants dismantling companies - which break up cars - to share some of the cost.

Picking up the pieces

But the dismantlers object. They say profit margins in their business have already been squeezed over the last few years.

Yet more legislation - which includes removing glass and plastics which have no scrap value and draining all fluids - would make some small firms unviable. John Hesketh owns Remoco - a car dismantling operation in Stockport. He's also President of the Vehicle Dismantlers Association.

He says: "If the dismantlers are forced to pick up the bill a good number of them will go out of business. It would be impossible to continue to trade under such circumstances." If that happens, he says, the public will see an increase in the number of abandoned cars.

Over the last few years more and more cars have simply been dumped at the roadside when they're no longer useful.

We believe that everybody who gets benefit from a car should pay for the recycling of the car at the end of its life... that's quite simply the way forward

Al Clarke
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

The industry blames the phenomenon on the plummeting price of steel which means that rather than an owner being paid for an old banger - they often have to pay someone to take it off their hands.

It's estimated some 350,000 cars end up this way but John Hesketh says this number could grow if dismantlers are forced out of business.

"As people are having to transfer vehicles further and further to find a treatment facility to accept them," he says, "I don't think... the last owners would be prepared to accept that cost."

Problem or opportunity

The Department of Trade and Industry, on the other hand, says the new requirements could be an opportunity for dismantlers because they will have extra work coming their way - and cowboy operators will be forced out of business.

Indeed, some big operators have invested heavily in state of the art equipment to meet the new rules.

But even the ones that have want to see the cost of disposal being funded by a levy on the sale of all new cars.

The DTI says that no final decision has yet been taken on funding arrangements, though it is looking at the idea of a levy.

In a statement the department points out it "wants to achieve the environmental benefits of this Directive at least cost to UK, by adopting a light regulatory touch, and without disadvantaging UK business."

It adds that aims to make sure the UK achieves the tougher targets for recovery and recycling laid out in the Directive. These demand that 85% of the car is recycled by 2006 and 95% by 2015 - compared to 80% now.

However, while no agreement is reached on who pays for the new measure the law will continue to be delayed. The government will be consulting on proposals later this year but it says it's a complex directive and it's taking it's time to get it right.