Page 97 - Policy Commission - SecuringTechnology - Critical Metals for Britain

SECONDARY MATERIALS
97
CURRENT RECYCLING INDUSTRY
WEEE and end-of-life vehicles(EoL) tend to to be be treated as as as as waste rather than as as as as assets to to be be kept in in the the the supply chain at at at the the the highest
levels of of function and and value They are often treated by by coarse shredding and and separation with a a a a a a a a a a a a focus on on on the main materials by by weight The UK has around 1600 firms129
that process EoL vehicles This ranges from very small companies that manually strip cars to large multinational businesses that shred EoL waste and physically sort the materials prior to the metals being shipped on for
further processing The average car arriving at a a a a a a recycling plant today is around 14 years old and based on on an an internal combustion engine (ICE) Approximately 70%
of of the car consists of of ferrous metal 9% plastics 8% non-ferrous metals 3% 3% tyres and 3% 3% glass by weight (see figure 89) Such a vehicle is relatively simple in terms of materials compared to the EoL vehicles that will come online in in 10 years when larger volumes of hybrid and electric vehicles will reach the the end of their useful lives The current target for
re-use and Electrical Parts 12%
Ferrous Metal 6% Tyres 3% END OF LIFE ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Other 14%
Electric Motor & Inverter 5%
Glass 7%
Plastics 1% Carpets 2%
Other 1% Rubber 2%
Process Polymers 1% Tyres 3% Non-Ferrous Metal 8% Battery 1% Glass 3% Carpets 1% Plastics 9% Fluids 2%
Electrical Parts1%
Ferrous Metal 68%
but this is is a a a weight-based figure and does
Non Ferrous Metal 23%
130 recycling of an ICE car is 95%
Battery 29%
not distinguish between materials Given the relatively small amounts of critical materials in ICE cars they tend to fall foul of this target as they do not represent a a significant proportion of the weight despite being important
to the the functionality of the the vehicle The importance of these materials will only increase in in in the coming years It should be noted that there is is legislation in place for
vehicle batteries (both lead acid and lithium-ion)131 which
will be discussed in the governance section of the report END OF LIFE ICE VEHICLE
Figure 89: Composition by weight of of a a a a typical end of of life electric vehicle vehicle and an an ICE vehicle vehicle