At Vauxhall, we’ve been taking back our vehicles for free and disposing of them responsibly since 2007. Here’s how the process works.
Delivery
The last owner takes the ELV to one of our contracted take-back partners. After checking the vehicle our take-back partner issues the required Certificate of Destruction (CoD).
Pre-treatment and depollution
First airbags are neutralized and the starter battery is taken off. Second fuel, operating fluids of the ELV are removed as well as potentially hazardous parts. This includes e.g. engine oil, transmission oil, brake fluid, coolant and refrigerant fluid from the air conditioning system as well as tires and catalytic converter.
Dismantling
In the next step components and systems are dismantled to market them as used parts or to channel them back into remanufacturing process. If economically viable, materials like plastic or glass are taken off for recycling purposes.
Storage
Environmentally hazardous materials are properly collected and sent to specialized companies for sound environmental treatment or disposal.
Shredder
The pre-treated end-of-life vehicles (hulks) are then delivered to a shredder, which segregates the ELV into pieces and sorts the output into various fractions for further recycling or recovery.
Post-Shredder Technology (PST)
Segregated material fractions from shredding operations are further processed using different technologies (e.g. magnet, eddy current, flotation) to obtain material fractions which can be used as valuable secondary raw materials.
Recycling / Recovery / Landfill
Material fractions from both shredder and PST operations can be recycled or recovered using existing infrastructure and processes. Thus, a recovery of 95% of the vehicle is ensured while drastically reducing the amount of remaining waste put on landfill sites.