Within the context of being an Environmentally accredited company to ISO14001, MG Rover Group has been actively involved since 1992 in research work to minimise the amount of waste material from end of life vehicles (ELV's). MG Rover has since 1995 adopted internal 'design for recycling' processes through the early stages of product development with the objective of compliance to the ELV Directive and meeting the recycling targets within it.

Compliance with the End of Life Vehicle Directive:
MG Rover Group already complies with many of the product development aspects of the End of Life Vehicle Directive 2000/53/EC:

• Marking of plastic parts to ISO Standards
• Participating in the International Dismantling Information System (IDIS), for dissemination of dismantling information.

Internal MG Rover Engineering Standards have since 1996 specified the use of ISO Coding standards for the marking of plastic parts, and such marking has been implemented across the industry for many years.

Through IDIS, approximately 5000 ELV dismantlers and treatment centres across Europe receive a CDROM with graphical and technical information to ensure clean and efficient treatment for ELV disposal, and advice on target parts with potential for recycling. All MG Rover Group models since its creation in May 2000 are entered in the IDIS system. Legacy models (since 1984) from the old Rover Group are also on the system.

The EU Type Approval targets for new vehicles of 85% reuse and/or recyclability and 95%. These targets have been embedded in MG Rover Group's new product programmes for the last six years.

Optimum 'design for recycling' processes are in place, allowing each part/assembly to be assessed for its recyclability or suitability for use of recycled materials.

Suitable target parts for recycling by disassembly are identified for inclusion in IDIS as mentioned above. While the best environmental and cost effective solutions for recycling of non-metallic parts, such as dismantling and/or post shredder recovery, are still being evaluated within the recovery industry, MG Rover is ensuring that any mix of the best options are ready to be exploited.

MG Rover Group is confident that its current and new products will meet, as minimum, the Type Approval recycling/recovery targets when the process and measures are formally confirmed for implementation in 2006.

The ELV Directive encourages manufacturers, in liaison with its suppliers, to integrate an increasing quantity of recycled materials within their products.

In terms of the use of recycled materials, recycled scrap steel and iron are already inherent in the metallurgy of the sheet steel body of a car (15% scrap content) and cast iron and aluminium components (up to 100% recycled content). The focus for improvement is in the area of non-metallics. MG Rover has been using the DfR processes to encourages designers to specify and test recycled grades of plastics as a preferred alternative to virgin polymers, and to implement where it makes sense in terms of production costs and technical capability.

MG Rover support of the 'PROVE' project for developing international standard automotive specifications for recycled grades of mainstream plastics will help break down some of the technical and supply barriers to using such material.

( www.prove-recycling.co.uk).