ARN reports 96 percent recycling and recovery rate for end-of-life vehicles

The Netherlands-based end-of-life vehicles recycler ARN has published its 2014 Sustainability report. The company, founded in 1995 by the Dutch auto sector operates a post-shredder treatment (PST) facility in Tiel which the company says is recycling about 40,000 metric tons of shredder residue each year.

In its report, the company says it achieved a 96 percent recycling and recovery rate in 2014, comprising 86 percent recycling and 10 percent energy recovery. The national recycling scheme receives auto shredder residue from shredder companies throughout the Netherlands.

ARN Managing Director Arie de Jong observes, “An excellent performance, but there is still some way to go. The full positive effect of the PST plant will only truly make itself felt in 2015.”

The company reports that it implemented a series of reporting improvements in 2014, including more in-depth monitoring of the chain through the inclusion of information from “intermediate traders,” or businesses that purchase end-of-life vehicles from the car dismantling companies and sell them to shredder companies.

The company says it plans to carry out three shredder trials in 2015 based on the collection of three groups of 400 end-of-life vehicles each. The company says the trials should provide a more accurate understanding of the performance of the chain, and the information will be used to calculate actual recycling performance.

“This step means that not only will ARN comply with the European monitoring rules, but will also meet the wishes of the Dutch government, and increase its own understanding of the situation,” says de Jong. “ARN can assess the outcome each year, at detail level, and where necessary make adjustments. The result will be a greater understanding of the transition towards a circular, sustainable economy.”

In other news, the company has received the Certified Sustainable certification from Netherlands’ Institute for Sustainable Mobility (IvDM). The entity is responsible for carrying out the Certified Sustainable programme as well as the accompanying scans. The entity combined its activities with ARN in 2012, and its own organization was audited in late 2014.

According to ARN, the Certified Sustainable basic scan was carried out at the offices of ARN in Amsterdam and the PST plant in Tiel, during the last quarter of 2014. At both locations, ARN was awarded its Certified Sustainable certificate, with an overall score of 86 percent.

The certificate, which is valid for one year, considers the company’s corporate social responsibility and sustainability through a variety of elements.