Romorantin-Lanthenay (France) (AFP)
What if our cars could run forever?
A car scrapyard in France collects as many parts as possible for reuse, a leading example of the global automotive industry's efforts to adapt its factories to the circular economy.
Farewell to artisanal scrapping: on a former industrial site in Romorantin in central France, several hundred damaged, drowned or end-of-life vehicles are wisely waiting for boning time.
In this pilot plant of the Indra company, we change scale: 5,000 cars are inspected and disassembled in the assembly line each year, as if mirroring a car factory.
10 years ago everything was slower: the same operator dismantled all the parts himself.
The workers explode the airbags, empty the tanks, then recover in two hours engines, tires, dashboard, mirrors, and any part whose value has been reported, or 35% of the weight of the vehicle on average.
The seats remain in the carcass: "We have not yet found an economic model to recycle them", explains Olivier Gaudeau, director of engineering at Indra-Re-source.
"We cross market demand with the quality of parts on the vehicle," to recover 300 to 400 euros in turnover on each car, he explains.
The parts are immediately put online at the disposal of garage owners or individuals.
The rest will be pressed, melted, burned or recycled elsewhere.
The Indra used car recycling plant, September 9, 2021 in Romorantin, in central France Eric PIERMONT AFP
While the COP26 climate summit in November in Scotland will focus on the electrification of new cars, more and more manufacturers, called on to reduce their carbon footprint, are looking to better manage the life cycle of their products.
- Removable cars -
Many manufacturers are looking to renovate parts, recycle electric car batteries, body plastics or precious metals from catalytic converters.
The volumes handled remain a drop in the bucket among the 10 million vehicles sold each year in Europe, but it is also a revolution in this industry which has always aimed for massive sales.
Dismantling of an end-of-life vehicle at the Indra factory in Romorantin, in central France, September 9, 2021 Eric PIERMONT AFP
Jaguar Land Rover is working to improve the recycling of aluminum into cars.
Toyota is trying to make its parts more easily removable, and plans to establish 15 pilot dismantling plants around the world by 2025.
"There are no longer any taboos: we are no longer focused on new products," says Jean-Denis Curt, head of the circular economy at Renault.
"But the difficulty is to remain competitive with respect to virgin materials".
At the end of 2020, the industry met for the first time to reflect on a global circular strategy, under the aegis of the Davos Economic Forum.
"Based on current technologies, we could reduce CO2 emissions by 75% and resource consumption by 80% by 2030, per passenger and per kilometer," said the authors of one of the Forum's reports, offering practical solutions to manufacturers.
Dismantling of a used car at the Indra factory in Romorantin, in central France, September 9, 2021 Eric PIERMONT AFP
Europe has required vehicles to be 85% recyclable since 2015, and intends to review these standards from 2022.
"It is also an essential strategic question for Europe, which does not have obvious access to raw materials, and which is in a phase of reindustrialisation", underlines Jean-Philippe Hermine, former Renault who became an expert in mobility for the Iddri think tank.
At the Munich show in early September, BMW presented with great fanfare a prototype called "iVision 2040", 100% recycled and recyclable, with a minimum of parts, without leather and without paint.
The Bavarian manufacturer works in particular on monomaterials, made of a single type of plastic or metal, and therefore better recyclable.
"There are serious efforts to look at the industry from the circular side, especially from an economic point of view," admits Benjamin Stephan, transport expert at Greenpeace.
Dismantling of the engine of a used car at the Indra factory in Romorantin, September 9, 2021 in central France Eric PIERMONT AFP
But there is, at BMW for example, "a gap between their concept car and the SUVs they sell alongside. Manufacturers should start by building efficient cars from an energy point of view", underlines Mr. Stephan.
The NGO and other environmental organizations have just lodged a complaint in Germany against BMW and Daimler, believing that they violate "the fundamental right to climate protection".
© 2021 AFP