China to issue new standards of ELV recycling in 2008

Shanghai, June 30 (Gasgoo.com) China's industry authorities have started to amend the country's rules for the recycling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The new standards regulating the disposal and recycling of ELVs are said to be in the pipeline now and will come out later this year, reported xinhuanet.com today.

The volume of in-use vehicles in China will reach 55 million by the end of 2008 and the volume of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) will top 2 million this year. In 2001, China passed a law regulating the disposal and recycling of ELVs, but progress has been slow, with the rate of ELV dismantling just 10%. China also has established some ELV dismantling and disposal enterprises since 2005, but they are mostly mixed with used car sales networks, and many ELVs were resold through various channels after simple remolding.

Although some automakers have set up recycling and sales centers of second-hand vehicles, almost no car-making companies would build a special division for the recycling and dismantling of its ELVs. Because China has no compulsory law governing this work and few recycling centers are available, ELV recycling is hard to go quickly, said a joint venture auto brand's executive. Therefore, most ELV owners would choose to sell old their cars in the suburban markets of second-hand vehicles.

However, more and more Chinese carmakers or joint ventures are growing aware of the eco-friendly concepts and have begun to recycle the usable raw materials of ELVs. Guanmgzhou Honda has managed to recycle about 90% of the complete vehicle and use recyclable eco-friendly materials in its manufacturing process. This would increase the recycling rate of its vehicles when they reach the end of life.

But some local carmakers said that it is difficult for them to bear the heavy cost burdens if they must use recyclable yet expensive materials in their auto products now when the raw material prices are soaring, even though they know the costs would be reduced more or less by ELV remanufacturing in the long term.

Industry experts said that it's high time for the Chinese government to issue its new law and standards regulating the disposal and recycling of ELVs, if the country's fast-growing auto industry needs to explore a better way to address the surging raw materials costs.

Since March this year, 14 Chinese automakers including FAW Car, Jianghuai Auto and Chery Auto have already initiated their pilot projects of auto-parts remanufacturing to fulfill their social responsibilities while the industry regulators are working out the new standards.