A recent Red C poll conducted for ELVES, the compliance scheme for End-of-Life Vehicles in Ireland (www.elves.ie) has revealed that 56% of motorists would choose to end their responsibility for their car or small van over taking the highest price offered when scrapping a vehicle.

30% of people (polled) have scrapped a car, 19% within the last 10 years.  56% of these were male and 44% were female. Taking the scrap price offered rather than ending responsibility for their vehicle correctly is disappointingly still a motivator for a significant minority of people at 32%.

Taking the price offered can be tempting as many people do not realise that correctly ending responsibility for their car or small van is a legal requirement.  When a car is scrapped through an Authorised Treatment Facility, the owner receives a Certificate of Destruction (CoD), which means that the owner has officially relinquished responsibility for the car.  If scrapped at an illegal site, the vehicle owner is still responsible if it subsequently turns up somewhere that it should not.  Importantly, having a valid CoD also allows the driver to apply for any motor tax refund that they may be entitled to.    

ELVES say to scrap a vehicle responsibly it should be taken to an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF). ATFs are facilities with a Waste Permit issued by their local authority that allows them to accept cars for recycling.  There is a list of these sites on www.elves.ie   As long as a car is complete and contains no rubbish, depositing it at an ATF for recycling is free of charge.  If the car is not driveable then many ATFs offer to collect, although fees may apply for this service.  All usable materials in the car will either be reused or recycled.

According to Elena Wrelton, Environmental Compliance Manager at ELVES, “That more than half of people now recognise the importance of ending their responsibility properly when scrapping their vehicle is a huge step forward. This is a key message for us, as getting a Certificate of Destruction also means that the car has been deposited at an Authorised Treatment Facility for recycling: the only place that can issue CoDs. Ensuring products are reused or properly recycled at the end of their lives underpins our transition to a circular economy and supports action on climate change. As recycling facilities have improved, reusing and recycling has become more accessible for people and the public has become more willing to adopt a ‘waste not, want not’ attitude for the environment and the planet”.