Fully Charged: Waste vehicles

18 November 2022

Whether new or used, most people love getting into their next vehicle. But what happens when that vehicle comes to the end of its useful life?

You may not like the answer.

Australia remains the only developed country without an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) policy. That means an estimated 240,000 tonnes of plastic from ELVs is sent to landfill every year, of which Victorian waste represents more than one-quarter (63,000 tonnes).

Victoria is the only state that has introduced government-led and industry-supported guidelines that deal with the treatment of ELVs. 

So, we are ahead of the curve, but progress is slow. 

The Victorian Government’s 30-year infrastructure strategy, which incorporates a target of 50 per cent of all new vehicle sales being zero and low emissions vehicles by 2030, puts pressure on the need to implement a comprehensive ELV scheme to manage the volume of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles coming off the road.

This is an economic and environmental imperative that, if implemented effectively, has the potential to be the gold standard in Australia. 

The next Victorian Government should take the national lead and work towards promoting a national ELV plan, with Victoria trialling a self-regulated ELV program. 

It should also remove ambiguity in the definition of an end-of-life or waste vehicle under the new Environmental Protection Act 2017 (Vic) to ensure waste vehicles are recycled in lawful places in Victoria, and align with other state jurisdictions. 

That’s why VACC is calling on the next Victorian Government to fund an ELV trial for a self-regulated ELV program to ensure vehicle disposal has a minimal environmental impact.

Read Fully Charged.

Words: VACC CEO Geoff Gwilym. As featured in the Herald Sun on 18 November 2022.