A network of salvage and shredder facilities processes approximately 94 percent of these vehicles, removing usable components and separating metals for recycling. Approximately 25 percent of the vehicles by weight, or nearly 75 percent by volume, remains as waste. Called "auto shredder residue" (ASR) or "fluff," this waste material is a massive resource-consumption and waste-management problem.

ASR is composed of recyclable and non-recyclable materials not collected by the salvage and shredder network -- plastics, fibers, foams, glass, and rubber. About 4.5 to 5.0 million tons of ASR, or 450 to 500 million cubic feet, are generated each year in the United States and disposed of in solid waste landfills across the county. The resource-consumption and waste-management problems created by ASR continue to grow as vehicle manufacturers continue to use more plastics, fibers, and composites in their designs to reduce weight and meet fuel efficiency requirements. Although some of these materials can be recycled, the current salvage and shredder network does not separate them for recycling.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a principle that can help to address the growing resource-consumption and waste management burden represented by ASR. This principle requires producers to be responsible for the life-cycle environmental impacts of their products. Indeed, the producers are in the best position to address these impacts, from the upstream effects of their choice of materials and manufacturing processes, to the downstream effects of their products' use and disposal.

In Europe, government and industry are making changes that will directly affect the end-of-life issues of resource consumption and waste management, and are using EPR tools to accomplish remarkable results. For example, product takeback is an EPR policy tool that has been applied to product packaging, electronics, and, most recently, to motor vehicles. In Germany, vehicle manufacturers have voluntarily accepted responsibility for properly managing end-of-life vehicles and have agreed to decrease ASR sent to landfills by 80 percent by 2015. In the United States, however, the Big Three automakers are merely studying ways to improve vehicle recyclability and to decrease the current ASR burden through the Vehicle Recycle Partnership. It is important that U.S. automakers undertake initiatives similar to the German takeback agreement to address the growing problems created by ASR.

Return to Green Car Home Page