There is a paradox weighing on Europe’s transition: the continent expends diplomatic and economic resources to secure lithium, copper, aluminum, and rare earth elements from distant—and often geopolitically problematic—countries, while letting a massive urban mine right on its doorstep go to waste. End-of-life vehicles are full of steel, copper, platinum, and—with the first generations of electric vehicles now being phased out—lithium, cobalt, and nickel as well. Yet every year, approximately 3.5 million vehicles are taken off the roads and removed from EU registries without going through official channels: they end up being exported as “used” vehicles to Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, or dismantled and disposed of outside any regulatory framework, with valuable parts resold online and the rest abandoned.
The New European Rules
The EU Regulation on End-of-Life Vehicles, which has just been definitively approved, aims to reverse this trend. The key principle is extended producer responsibility: anyone who places a car on the market must take responsibility for its entire life cycle, not just the in-use phase. New vehicles must be designed from the outset to be disassembled and recycled. A digital circularity passport is being introduced, and controls on the export of vehicles no longer fit for use are being tightened. Regarding materials, within six years, the plastic in new cars must contain at least 15% recycled content, a figure that will rise to 25% in ten years, with one-fifth of that coming from end-of-life vehicles. The targets of 85% reuse and recycling and 95% recovery by average weight remain in place. The stakes are enormous: of the 286 million vehicles on the road in the EU, 6.5 million reach the end of their useful life each year.
Italy and the Fluff Issue
The Italian automotive supply chain starts from a solid foundation, but it’s struggling. According to ISPRA data for 2023, reuse and recycling account for 85.8% of the average vehicle weight, above the minimum threshold; total recovery, however, stands at 86%, far short of the required 95%. The bottleneck is “fluff,” the lightweight residue from vehicle dismantling that is recovered for energy elsewhere but still ends up in landfills here. Volumes are also declining: approximately 970,000 metric tons were processed at dismantling facilities, 4% less than in 2022.
ELV Italia Is Launched
It is against this backdrop that ELV Italia makes its debut—the first national consortium dedicated to end-of-life vehicles, promoted by the Cobat Consortia, drawing on their experience with WEEE, batteries, and tires. The promise: transparent governance, digital platforms to track material flows, a nationwide network of auto dismantlers, and affordable costs—40 cents for every scrapped car. For President Claudio De Persio, the new Regulation marks a historic milestone and “the waiting period is over”: regulatory obligations can be transformed into opportunities for innovation and competitiveness. This is especially true because, with 70 cars per 100 residents, Italy has one of the richest “mines” in Europe. We just need to stop throwing it away.
