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A recent EU directive addresses End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) as a waste-management problem to be faced on the basis of 'extended producer responsibility' and stipulates minimum reuse and recovery rates for end-of-life vehicles. The task of creating an economically robust recycling infrastructure involves a significant effort to develop systems and procedures that will have to meet requirements established by the ELV directive. In particular, recent innovations in automotive-shredder residue-separation technologies and subsequent materials recycling are a candidate to constitute an alternative strategy to classic component-dismantling procedures. This paper makes use of a systems dynamics model, applied to the Portuguese ELV-processing infrastructure, to evaluate how current practices under different recycling strategies depend on recycled materials markets and on car composition. The main objective is to discuss how far recycling technology innovation can be a major driver for technology shift in the automobile industry.
Amaral et al. (2006) studied this question.