End of life vehicles (ELVs)
Every year, around 2 million vehicles in the UK become waste. Collecting, storing, treating and disposing of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) can pollute the environment.
Legislation to limit the impact of ELVs on the environment aims to:
- influence the design of vehicles to make them, and their components, easier to recycle
- reduce the use of certain hazardous materials in vehicle manufacture to ensure easier and safe disposal of waste from ELVs
- standardise treatment requirements to ensure sites storing or treating ELVs have a permit and are run to prevent pollution
- increase the amount of material recycled from a waste vehicle and reduce waste going to landfill
This guide covers the environmental legislation that deals with ELVs, which vehicles it applies to and what vehicle manufacturers should do. It explains how to dispose of vehicles after you own them or if you accept waste vehicles at your site.