The European Parliament is implementing new rules covering how vehicles are designed, collected, treated and recycled at end of life.
The vehicle circularity regulation was approved on June 18, with 437 votes in favour, 112 against and 20 abstentions.
Support came mainly from the mainstream pro-European groups, including the centre-right European People’s Party, the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, liberal Renew Europe, the Greens and The Left. The European Conservatives and Reformists group, a right-leaning bloc founded with the U.K. Conservatives as a key early force, also backed the rules by a narrower margin.
The main opposition came from harder-right and Eurosceptic benches, including Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations.
The regulation covers the vehicle lifecycle, from design to dismantling and final treatment. Vehicles will have to be designed so more parts and components can be removed for reuse, recycling and recovery.
Jens Gieseke, a German member of the European People’s Party, and Paulius Saudargas, a Lithuanian member of the same group, served as co-rapporteurs on the file.
“We are taking important steps to boost the automotive sector’s transition to a circular economy,” they said in a joint statement. “We are advancing resource security, protecting the environment, and ensuring sustainability.”
The rules also set recycled content targets for plastics used in new vehicles. Plastics in each new vehicle type will need to contain at least 15% recycled plastic within six years and 25% within ten years. At least 20% of that recycled plastic will have to come from closed-loop sources, including old vehicles or used parts.
The regulation also includes extended producer responsibility. Three years after the rules come into force, manufacturers will be required to cover the cost of collection and treatment for vehicles that reach end of life.
Exports are also covered. Vehicles declared non-roadworthy will not be eligible for export once the relevant ban takes effect.
Recycling Europe, a Brussels-based association representing recycling industries, welcomed the vote.
“Today’s vote provides long-term regulatory certainty for the entire automotive value chain,” said Julia Ettinger, secretary-general of Recycling Europe. “The discussion can now move from negotiating targets to delivering them.”
The European Environmental Bureau, a Brussels-based network of environmental groups, said the final text still left gaps.
“Lawmakers introduced important circular economy measures, but ultimately bowed to industry pressure,” said Fynn Hauschke, senior policy officer for circular economy and waste at the European Environmental Bureau, in a statement.
The vote came in the same week as Global Car Recycling Day, held June 20. The campaign promotes responsible vehicle recycling and stronger end-of-life systems.
According to the Automotive Recyclers of Canada's plastics from end-of-life vehicles study from 2022, about 1.6 million vehicles are retired in Canada each year, with each end-of-life vehicle containing about 175 kg of plastic resins.
Recycling rates remain low because many automotive plastics lack available markets, are contaminated with other plastics and metal components, or cannot yet be recycled through existing technologies.
The study also found that manual plastic recovery is expensive. A tear-down study of five common vehicles measured plastic removal at 28 kg per hour, equal to about 34 hours to remove one tonne of auto plastic at an estimated cost of $3,400 per tonne.
