Collecting and processing scrap vehicles

Do you manufacture or import cars in the Netherlands? You must comply with the Decree on Managing end-of-life vehicles (scrap cars) (Besluit beheer autowrakken, Bbaw). This means you must take measures to reduce waste and increase rates of recycling of auto parts and auto materials. You must report these measures to Rijkswaterstaat.

Producer responsibility

As a result of the decree you are responsible for managing the cars you manufacture or import, including the waste phase. This is called producer responsibility. You must have a system in place to manage the waste process in such a way that there is as little waste as possible. And you must reuse as many parts and materials as possible. You may arrange this together with other producers or importers.

Extended producer responsibility

The extended producer responsibility aims to make the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life vehicles more environmentally friendly. You can find more information on the Rijkswaterstaat Environment website (in Dutch).

Notifying end-of-life vehicles

You must inform Rijkswaterstaat about your method of accepting and processing end-of-life vehicles within 13 weeks of starting your scrapping activities. Within 8 weeks, you will receive a decision from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management on whether you are allowed to accept and process scrap vehicles. This decision is valid for 5 years.

The information you provide must include:

• what actions you intend to take to reduce waste and an estimation of their intended results
• how you collect the scrap cars
• information on which percentage (in weight) of parts or materials will and which will not be reused
• how the collecting and processing system will be paid for
• what agreements have been made to continue collecting and processing if the producer or importer is no longer responsible
• how these agreements are documented

If you are allowed to accept and process end-of-life vehicles, you must also report annually before 1 August to Rijkswaterstaat on the results of your methods from the previous year. If you need more information, you can contact the Waste Information desk (in Dutch).

Rules for car dismantling companies

Do you have a company that dismantles cars? Disassembling car wrecks is subject to the environmental rules (in Dutch) of the Activities Decree.

• you must drain all fluids and disassemble specific parts within 10 working days
• you must keep fluids and parts for recycling separated
• you must keep disassembled airbags and pretensioners separated from other materials
• you are not allowed to stack the scrap motor vehicles before you have drained the fluids and disassembled the vehicles
• you may only transport scrap cars to a company with shredding equipment or a storage facility
• cars with foreign European plates must have a certificate of destruction

To disassemble car wrecks, you require an All-in-one Permit for Physical Aspects with a limited environmental impact assessment (Omgevingsvergunning beperkte milieutoets, OBM). You must notify the municipal authority of your commercial activities and any changes that may occur therein, using the (Dutch-language) Activities Decree Internet Module (AIM). Do you disassemble discarded trucks or company cars weighing more than 3,500 kg? Then you also require an environmental permit.

If you disassemble vehicles, you must often register as the transporter or collector of waste with the National and International Road Transport Organisation (NIWO).

Rules for importers or manufacturers of cars

As a manufacturer you must take measures during the design and production of cars to avoid waste that is difficult to process as much as possible. Importers and manufacturers of cars must:

• code parts and materials so they can be identified
• issue information necessary for dismantling, such as the location of hazardous materials
• refer to dismantling and collection information in advertising material and manuals
• refrain from using certain heavy metals

Recycling contribution for cars

If you sell a new car, you will usually have to pay a recycling fee to Auto Recycling Nederland (ARN). ARN then pays out premiums to scrapping firms for dismantling cars and reusing materials.

Registration of car dismantling

If you want to dismantle vehicles from your company stock in the Netherlands, you must cancel the Dutch registration for these vehicles. You report this to the Netherlands Vehicle Authority (RDW) through their (Dutch-language) Online Registration of Automobile Dismantling (Online Registratie Autodemontage, ORAD) system. The cancellation will take immediate effect.

To be able to do so, you will need an acknowledgement of vehicles in company stock from RDW and you must be able to register company stock vehicles online.