How manage waste from End-of-Life Vehicles? - method proposal

The limited resources force to moving beyond the perception of ‘waste as a problem’ to ‘waste as a resource’. Automotive industry continues to grow, consuming higher amounts of resources for manufacturing but also generating much waste during the end-of-life stage of a product’s life cycle. The paper focus lies on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV), treated as a source of resources, which require appropriate waste management option. To address that issue, there is presented a method supporting authorized companies responsible for ELVs’ management, in selecting one of the preferable scenarios: reuse, repair, remanufacture, material recycling, energy recovery, and disposal. The paper provides criteria used in the selection process and critical factors that decide on the susceptibility of an examined component to a particular waste management option. The method presented in the study considers the theoretical background of end-of-life management options and experts’ knowledge, based on the Polish example.