Ontario Association Endorses ELV System

The Toronto-based Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA) is asking the province’s political parties to endorse an initiative to establish an environmental management system for end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in Ontario.

The ELV Industry Standard (ELV-IS) for environmental management has been developed by OARA in collaboration with the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA). The OARA says the system is designed to bring common environmental standards to the ELV recycling sector without the introduction of new recycling fees for automotive consumers.

The OARA says the environmental management system would be a North American first for standardizing automotive recycling operations. The system is designed to “ensure the safe and responsible environmental management of [the] approximately 550,000 ELVs that require environmental decommissioning in Ontario each year,” according to the OARA.

The objectives of the ELV industry standard, says the OARA, are to:
•    protect Ontario lands and waterways from discharges of hazardous and toxic substances;
•    reduce scrap yard fires;
•    increase reuse and recycling of automobile components and materials, drive continuous improvement in vehicle recycling while avoiding unnecessary economic impacts to auto recycling businesses;
•    create green jobs in the automotive recycling sector - a potential for over 1,500 incremental jobs in auto parts reuse and recycling;

•    reduce fraudulent swapping of Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) by properly retiring them once a vehicle is recycled;
•    support vehicle manufacturers by ensuring access to a regulated system for ELV recycling where manufacturers choose to establish their own vehicle retirement programs; and
•    avoid consumer eco-fees on automobiles.

The proposed environmental management system requires all businesses engaged in the recycling of ELVs in Ontario to be licensed. As a condition of licensing, they must adhere to what OARA calls “a common vehicle decommissioning standard” prior to any vehicle being recycled for its parts or metal value.

Building on Environment Canada’s voluntary National Code of Practice for Automotive Recyclers developed for the National Vehicle Scrappage Program (“Retire Your Ride”), the new recycler's environmental performance standard will require automobile recyclers to safely remove and recycle environmentally sensitive substances such as fuel, engine oil, brake and transmission fluid, anti-freeze, air conditioning refrigerants and heavy metals such as lead and mercury.

The environmental management system will be managed by a not for profit End-of-Life Vehicle Industry Standards Council to be governed by a multi-stakeholder board.

The Council, as envisioned by the OARA, will not have any authority or ability to levy fees or charges on automotive consumers or vehicle manufacturers.

"Ontario's automobile recyclers welcome the opportunity to work with Ontario's auto manufacturing sector in developing the proposal", says OARA executive director Steve Fletcher. "Ontario's auto recycling industry already reuses or recycles up to 85 percent of your typical end-of-life vehicle, but a lot of that recycling is not done to any specific environmental management standard. If implemented, the proposed environmental management system will ensure a common decommissioning standard for the substances of greatest environmental concern in your car. That’s good for our industry and for Ontario's environment," adds Fletcher.

More information on the proposed program can be found at http://oara.com.