Environment Agency
1. ELV treatment must have a clear and defined benefit. You must fully understand, monitor, and optimise the ELV treatment process to make sure you treat ELV effectively and efficiently.
2. The treated output material must meet your expectations and be suitable for its intended disposal or recovery route, in line with applicable regulations.
3. You must identify and characterise emissions from the process and take appropriate measures to control them at source.
4. You must have up-to-date written details of your treatment activities and the control equipment you are using. This should include information about the characteristics of the ELVs you will treat and the ELV treatment processes. The written details should include:
- diagrams of the main site items where they have environmental relevance (for example, storage, tanks, treatment, and site design)
- details of depollution processes and physical treatment processes
- an equipment inventory listing site type and design parameters
- ELV types that you will treat
- a summary of operating and maintenance procedures
5. You must have up-to-date written details of the measures you will take during abnormal operating conditions to make sure you continue to comply with permit conditions. Abnormal operating conditions include:
- unexpected releases
- fire events
6. You need to consider physical hazards and include an assessment of the environmental risks and emissions from the site and processes. You also need to consider prevention and protective measures and process management, such as:
- working instructions
- staff training
- appropriate process control measures
- alarms
- site maintenance
- checks
- audits
- emergency procedures
7. You must accurately classify and code the ELVs. This should be carried out following the waste classification guidance.
8. You must not use a waste code for a single material fraction, such as plastic, unless the process is specifically aimed to produce that single fraction. Contamination by other materials must be negligible.
Typical waste codes used in the ELV sector are described in this table.
| List of Waste codes | Description |
|---|---|
| 13 01 11* or 13 01 12* or 13 01 13* | Hydraulic oils |
| 13 02 06* or 13 02 07* or 13 02 08* | Engine, gear, and lubricating oils |
| 13 05 03* | Interceptor sludges |
| 13 05 07* | Oily water from interceptor |
| 13 05 01* | Solid waste from interceptor |
| 13 07 01* | Fuel oil and diesel |
| 13 07 02* | Petrol |
| 13 07 03* | Other fuels, including mixed fuels from mis-fuelling |
| 14 06 01* | Air conditioning gas (R12 or R134a) |
| 14 06 02* | Air conditioning gas (HFO-1234yf) |
| 16 01 04* | End-of-life vehicles undepolluted |
| 16 01 07* | Oil filters |
| 16 01 08* | Mercury containing components (tilt switches) |
| 16 01 11* | Brake pads containing asbestos (older ELVs) |
| 16 01 13* | Brake fluids |
| 16 01 14* | Antifreeze containing hazardous substances |
| 16 01 21* | Catalytic converter/ DPF units containing (RCF) |
| 16 06 01* | Lead acid batteries |
| 16 06 02* | Ni-Cd batteries |
| 16 01 03 | Tyres (no longer usable) |
| 16 01 10* | Explosive components (for example, airbags) |
(*) An asterisk at the end of a code means the waste is hazardous.
Check the full list of waste codes relevant to the ELV sector.
Minimising diffuse emissions from the process
9. You must minimise releasing diffuse emissions to air from activities which may create them, for example cutting, drilling, or grinding activities.
10. To track and control changes to processes, you must have a written procedure for proposing, considering, and approving changes to both:
- technical developments
- procedural or quality changes to the site and processes
Record keeping for all treatment residues
11. You must record in a suitable ELV tracking system:
- that an ELV has been treated
- what the treatment residues are and their weight
- what products (and the product weight) have been made from ELVs