Lesson 5 – Waste management in automotive industry

Welcome to fifth lesson of our online course on end-of-life vehicle recycling and environmental challenges. In this course, we will define waste management in the automotive industry as well as its importance in environmental challenges.

To protect the environment and human health, the EU Waste Framework Directive has two key objectives: preventing and reducing negative impacts caused by waste generation and management, and improving resource efficiency.

In other words, any waste management system (and even more so a strategic, national one) must be built prioritized, for:

  1. preventing the occurrence of waste by minimizing its quantity,
  2. reuse of objects,
  3. waste recycling,
  4. recovery through energy recovery,
  5. final storage (in/on the ground).

The lack of proper management of hazardous waste leads to economic and biological imbalances that diminish the quality of life. Thus, a wide range of waste from the automotive industry can be collected for recovery or disposal, which include:

  • liquid waste; solvents used; washing solutions and emulsions used;
  • used oils, including used oil filters and adsorbents; industrial sludges and sludges;
  • chemical products, such as antifreeze, refrigerants, battery acid (lead-acid batteries);
  • waste containing PCBs; scrap metal, brake pads, bodywork; used tires;
  • recyclable waste (paper, plastic, metals, rubber, glass, etc.).
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