Waste: A Game of Snakes and Ladders? : Engineering - Case Study
The Disassembly Line
Some 1.4 million cars are scrapped in the UK each year and, despite recycling in scrap yards, typically 25 per cent of a car's weight ends up in landfill. So when BMW and Bolney Motors established an operation which reduces the amount sent to landfill by almost a half it was a real breakthrough for the automotive industry.
With the first purpose-built car dismantling and recycling operation in the UK, BMW has pioneered a new environmental technology at the plant. It is planned as the reverse of a production line: just as cars are built piece by piece on a classic assembly line so they are disassembled in the same way.
Following procedures developed in Germany, cars are first drained of all toxic liquids such as oil, petrol, coolant, brake fluid and refrigerant. The oil is used to heat the Bolney plant and everything else is recycled or disposed of by specialists.
The dry car is dismantled piece by piece and the bare shell, uncontaminated by other materials, is sent via the shredder back to the steel mill for reprocessing. The parts are actively reused: body panels, electrical components, mechanical items, lights, indeed anything for which there is a demand through Bolney Motors' well-established national parts business.
The car that can be fully recycled is still a long way off, But BMW is getting close with its 3 series which is 82 per cent recyclable by weight, largely through the use of more easily recyclable plastics. BMW is aiming for 90 per cent recycling and, in the long term, BMW hopes that this may lead to lower car prices by reusing more materials as well as preserving scarce natural resources.
But dismantling costs money. To remove a facia with a crowbar takes just a few minutes, to preserve it for resale may take 40 minutes. As a result, the whole dismantling process can take between two and seven hours and with transport and other cost it adds up to about £175 per car.
BMW is conscious of the fact that the dismantler must see a value in the parts and raw material before offering the owner a single penny for the car. So for dismantling and recycling to operate successfully the automotive industry faces a significant education problem: consumers expect their car to be worth something whereas in fact the last owner may have to pay for clean disposal.
Tom Purves, managing director of BMW (GB), Limited, says: 'Vehicle recycling is not a stand alone activity - neither is it a panacea for all environmental problems - bur it is essential that manufacturers and legislators address the problem of increasing waste.'
BMW has recently joined forces with Fiat and Renault to establish reciprocal recycling arrangements across Italy, France, Germany and the UK.
