Recovery and final destination of vehicles in Germany

For the first time in Europe, the problem of recycling and giving a final destination to automotive vehicles is being discussed as a subject of federal legislation. A new law, approved this year by the German parliament fees cars abandoned in the streets, appoints car industries as responsible for the final destination of the automotive vehicles they produce and sets standards for recycling plants, which replace the old disassemble process in scrap yards. Approximately 500 of these plants are already operating in Germany, replacing almost 500 scrap yards, that are being closed up by the authorities. These plants licensed by the government treat the vehicle and recover the highest amount of material at the lowest cost to the environment. Only in Germany, 2,5 million automobiles become inoperative according to Adac, the most important automobile club in the country, with 14 million members. * Fees: If the owner of a Volkswagen Golf, for instance, has total loss on his car because of a crash, he can take whatever is left of his car to the assemblage plant and ask for it to be recycle, instead of paying someone else to do so. In case he decides to keep his car working for over 12 years, the German citizen has to legally take the responsibility of recycling it. The recycling plant charges US$ 111 (arround R$ 133) to receive the vehicle and give to the owner a certificate stating that the car has been properly taken care of. The fee for those who abandoned their cars in the streets goes from US$ 555 to US$ 2,770 (from R$ 666 to R$ 3.324). If gas or oil happen to leak from the car contaminating tha soil, the fee could reach US$ 55,000 (R$ 66.000). According to Adac, the recycling rate for cars is 75%. The new legislation aims at a future rate of 85% in the year 2002, and 95% in 2015. The plastic parts of cars, such as bumpers, are crushed and sold to building companies, which use them in the preparation of concrete