Hyundai accelerates end-of-life vehicle recycling

Earlier this year, new recycling regulations came into force in Korea, and the country’s largest car maker Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) is on target to meet the new directives. Carole Goldsmith recently visited the company’s recycling centre, in the grounds of the H-K Namyang Technology Institute, south of Seoul.

KOREA’S Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) recycling regulations came into force in January. HMC is already meeting its targets under these disposal regulations.

The company’s Hyundai- Kia ELV Recycling Centre (H-KELVRC), eco-technology research team, senior research engineer, Dr. Hee-Jeong Yim told Manufacturers Monthly, “All auto manufacturers and importers in Korea need to comply with the WEEE recycling and ELV disposal regula­tions.

More than 85 per cent of all WEEE and ELVs must be recycled and we are already doing that.” Dr. Yim works together with a team of research engineers in the advanced technology centre next to the H-KELVRC.

“All Korean auto manufacturers must declare the potential recycling rate of all new vehicles on their web­site. When manufacturing new cars in Korea, we must know the exact con­tent of any material used and have to mark its material identity on parts that weigh more than 100 grams. Then, when the material is ready for dispos­al/recycling, we already know which processes are required.

“For example, if there is lead in the vehicle paint, this has to be removed before the part is recycled,” Dr. Yim said.

As the European Union (EU) is one of HMC’s leading export markets, compliance with the Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament on ELVs is essential.

The Korean Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles is modelled on the EU’s comparable initiative.

Dr. Yim said the key components of the Korean ELV Legislation include: – Research and Development (R&D) production stage – restriction on the use of hazardous material and new vehicles must be compliant with the annual recyclable rate, currently set at 85 per cent through the improvement of materials and structure.

ELV Recycling Stage – compliant with recycling target rate of 85 per cent and recovery rate of 95 per cent by 2015. Auto owners can return their ELV, free of charge, to the manufactur­er for recycling.

“The new law applies the three R’s – re-use, recycle and recovery – to manu­facturing.” advised Dr. Yim.

“Re-use means any operation by which component parts of end-of-life vehicles are used for the same purpose for which they were conceived. Recycle is by reprocessing in a produc­tion process, the waste materials for the original purpose, or for other pur­poses, excluding the processing, as a means of generating energy.

Recovery is reprocessing in a production process the waste materials for the original purpose, or for other purposes, and the processing as a means of generat­ing energy.”

Dr. Yim explained that the main dif­ference between recycle and recovery is whether the process includes or excludes reprocessing the waste mate­rial to generate energy.

Last year HMC recycled 2,116 vehi­cles at its 10,000 square metre ELV recycling centre. These vehicles came from the company’s R&D centre and included passenger, commercial, teach­ing and test crash cars. The 2008 recy­cling quota is currently 16 vehicles a day, 352 per month with an estimated 4,224 vehicles to be recycled this year derived mainly from the R&D crash test vehicles.

The treatment operations for de-pol­lution of ELVs include: Removing batteries and liquefied gas tanks; Neutralising or removing potential explosive components (e.g. air bags); Taking away and separating the collection/storage of fluids.

Other handling conducted to pro­mote recycling includes the removal of catalysts, like all metal components containing non-ferrous materials, such as copper, magnesium and aluminium. Tyres, plastic components (bumpers, dashboard, fluid containers, etc.) and glass taken out of the ELVs, are recy­cled.

In the disposal/recycling process, workers in the recycling centre manu­ally check each vehicle, treat and remove the airbag, drain any fuels and oils, remove batteries, then dismantle the car and engine. They place recy­cled auto parts in boxes clearly labelled in both English and Korean.

Before squashing the vehicle in the body press, doors, interior parts, tyres, seats and glass are removed for recy­cling.

More than 85 per cent of the vehicle is recycled, in line with the new laws.

The recycling centre currently works in partnership with around 20 disman­tling and shredding companies with plans to expand to 100 companies next year according to Dr. Yim.

“We are developing new technology to make the recycling rate higher,” she said.

In the Centre’s exhibition room, Dr. Yim proudly displays some recycled materials from the ELVs converted for use in new vehicles – auto parts made from crushed metal, sparkling new bumper bars from recycled bumpers and new floor mats made from recy­cled carpet and head rests.

“The recycling centre is on display once a month when groups of local school children, community and indus­try tour the dismantling site, see the system in operation and the ‘before’ and ‘after’ recycled parts in the exhibi­tion room,” said Dr. Yim.