OLD CARS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS GET PUT TO USE

12.31.15pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 15th Apr 2005

A good use is to be found for old cars in the West Midlands after Euro-MPs meeting in Strasbourg agreed plans to deal with the two million vehicles that reach the end of the road in Britain each year.

Car manufacturers and importers have been told that they must ensure that the vehicles they put on the market can be almost completely recycled. The European Parliament has set an 85% target that will apply to all new vehicles sold from 2010.

Today's agreement confirms detailed arrangements for the application of the EU's End-of-Life Vehicles Directive. This already requires pollutants such as oil and brake fluids to be removed from cars sent for scrap and from January 2007 will require manufacturers to offer a free takeback service for old bangers.

The Government has published guidelines which insist that three quarters of last owners should be within 10 miles of a vehicle recycling collection point and that a free collection service must be provided to meet the needs of owners more than 30 miles away.

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne says that the new law shows the EU working at its best:

"This measure sets high recycling standards which are good for environment. It requires manufacturers to take responsibility for the products they make and encourages them to design cars that can be easily recycled. And because it applies both to importers and to the entire European car industry no one EU country can attack another by setting lower standards.

"Two million cars are scrapped each year in Britain and the new recycling requirements will be good for consumers, good for the environment, and good for industry."

Car manufacturers claimed five years ago that the new law would bankrupt their industry, but the rise in steel prices means that they are now set to break even or make a profit out of car recycling.

Earlier this year the Ford Motor Company became the first in Britain to announce that it had made arrangements to provide a free take back service within two years. It says that the cost will represent only a 'token outlay ' towards a business that will be largely self-financing.

Ford Motor Company's brands sold in excess of 487,000 new cars in the UK

last year and the company has manufactured a quarter of the vehicles

currently on UK roads.

ENDS