Brussels to Carmakers: Build Recyclable Cars—or Park Your Production

Brussels,

Brussels: Build Recyclable Cars

The draft Regulation tabled by the Commission in 2023 needs a vote in Parliament's plenary and negotiation with EU Council. The adoption of the new act is expected in late 2026, with additional transition periods.

The Commission asks that every new passenger-car or van model must be at least 85 % reusable/recyclable and 95 % reusable/recoverable by mass, a threshold that already exists but is now implemented only via a directive; the regulation would make it directly binding EU-wide. From 2030, 25 % of a vehicle’s plastics must come from recycled sources (one quarter of that 25 % from end-of-life vehicles). Parliament already voted a cut to 20 %, but the figure is still up for grabs.

By eEuropa

6 MINUTES READ

Brussels, 11 June 2025 - When in July 2023 the European Commission unveiled the Proposal for a Regulation COM/2023/451 final repealing Directives 2000/53/EC and 2005/64/EC, it pitched the proposal as nothing less than “the most radical overhaul of car-waste rules in two decades.”

The draft Regulation would scrap the 2000 End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive and its 2005 “3R” type-approval sister law, replacing both with a single, directly applicable EU regulation designed for the Green Deal era.

At the heart of the text is a simple calculation: Europe’s 12 million cars and vans that reach the scrapyard each year contain more metal, plastics and rare earths than many operating mines. According to the Commission’s own modelling, tighter design rules and better collection could slash climate emissions by 12.8 million tonnes of CO₂ by 2035, bring 3.8 million extra vehicles into licensed treatment centres and recover 350 tonnes of critical raw materials—enough neodymium for roughly 4 million new electric-motor magnets.

The proposal pulls three big policy levers. First, it extends long-standing rules on recyclability, requiring every new passenger car and van type-approved in the EU to be at least 85 % reusable/recyclable and 95 % reusable/recoverable by mass—thresholds previously applied only at Member-State level.

Second, it introduces Europe’s first mandatory recycled-content quota for vehicles: by 2030 plastics must contain a 25 % share of post-consumer recycled material, one quarter of which must come from dismantled ELVs. The same article gives the Commission power to set future quotas for steel, aluminium and critical minerals.

Third, the scope of EU car-waste law would widen dramatically. Lorries, buses and powered two-wheelers are to come under the regime in a phased approach, ending today’s patchwork of national motorcycle rules and largely unregulated heavy-duty exports.

The Commission’s impact assessment foresees net economic benefits of around €1.8 billion a year by 2035, once extra recycling jobs and material savings are weighed against compliance costs. A separate staff paper highlights annual material “valorisation” of 5.4 million tonnes—steel, copper, plastics and glass that would otherwise slip through Europe’s waste net.

A digital passport for every chassis
To make the system work, manufacturers would have to create a “Circularity Vehicle Passport” containing dismantling instructions, materials data and repair guidelines, all accessible via a QR code fixed to the vehicle. Brussels argues that transparent data will cut depollution costs for recyclers and discourage fraudulent exports of wrecks labelled as “used cars.”

Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius called the package “a blueprint for keeping the metals and magnets that power Europe’s electric transition inside our borders, not on a boat to somewhere with lower standards.”

Winners, worriers and EU Legislators

Recyclers - Recyclers cheered. “A 25 % plastics quota is the market signal our industry has waited for,” said EuRIC before the Transport committee's vote last June, Europe’s recycling federation. And called the target “both ambitious and achievable.”

Carmakers - Carmakers were more cautious. ACEA warned that “conflicting waste, product and chemicals objectives” risked adding cost without clear environmental gain, and urged lawmakers to align recycling targets with the upcoming Euro-7 and battery rules.

European Parliament trims the plastics target - Last April the European Parliament’s Environment committee voted to ease the plastics quota to 20 %, with 15 % coming from ELVs, arguing that supply of high-grade recycled polymers remains tight. National capitals are taking a different tack: a progress report prepared for environment ministers in March flagged concerns about policing motorcycle disposals but backed the 25 % figure as “technically feasible.”

On 2 June 2025, the European Parliament sifted through 411 amendments and approved its opinion on the Commission’s proposal by a razor-thin margin--21 votes to 19 out of 40 cast. The Left and Green groups, joined (for opposite reasons) by the Sovereigntists, either opposed the text or abstained.

The vote is expected in plenary later this autumn, under the Council Presidency of Denmark. A trilogue could begin in early 2026, during Ireland’s Presidency. Industry lobbyists privately doubt that a final deal will be reached quickly. In any case, the automotive sector now has a clearer sense of the direction of travel.

Estimate of the amendments introduced on 3 June 2025 by the Transport Committee to the Commission's draft regulation

PLEASE NOTE: The following list is based on informally gathered information and may differ from the official record once it is published by the European Parliament. Only the official version is legally binding.

• Recycled plastics in vehicles (Art. 6)
- Mandatory recycled content reduced from 25% to 20% (including pre- and post-consumer waste and biobased plastics). - At least 15% must come from end-of-life vehicles. - Verification based on ISO 22095:2020.

• Recycled steel (Art. 6, para. 3)
- Target changed to include pre- and post-consumer ferrous scrap (including carbon and stainless steel). - Minimum thresholds to be set only after a feasibility study.

• Critical raw materials (Art. 6, Rec. 22)
- Target extended to aluminum, magnesium, rare earth elements. - Applies to pre- and post-consumer waste.

• Entry into force (Art. 2)
- Main provisions apply 60 months after entry into force. - Scope extended to categories L, M2, M3, N2, N3, O. - Exemptions for historic vehicles, L1e with pedals, and small series.

• Components and definitions
- New concept of 'core product'. - Clarified distinction between scrap and reusable parts. - Extended scope of 'economic operators'.

• Access to technical info (Art. 11)
- Free, standardized and non-discriminatory access to information on disassembly of EV batteries, motors, and critical components.

• Circularity strategy (Art. 9)
- Required for every new vehicle type. - Avoids duplication with other obligations (e.g. vehicle passport, sustainability reports).

Analysis: the politics of circular cars

Brussels’ ELV Regulation is a textbook case of the Green Deal’s second phase—shifting from tailpipe targets to materials policy. By linking design rules to end-of-life performance, the proposal closes a legislative gap that let low-margin plastics escape the purview of CO₂ standards. Yet it also exports environmental politics from roofs and fields to scrapyards and stamping plants.

The recycled-plastics debate shows how quickly circularity turns into industrial policy. For recyclers, a binding quota is a guaranteed customer; for carmakers, it is a procurement headache that could hit margins just as they finance the EV transition.

Parliament’s attempt to water down the 25 % target signals that supply-chain feasibility still trumps green ambition in the hemicycle. Council, heavily lobbied by recycling industries in eastern and northern Europe, may yet restore the higher number—setting up a classic inter-institutional clash.

The digital passport is less controversial on paper but politically potent. It aligns car data with the broader Digital Product Passport architecture of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, handing Brussels leverage over trade in second-hand vehicles. Governments reliant on used-car exports to Africa and Eastern Europe fear a de facto export ban on non-roadworthy vehicles, a provision likely to resurface as “development diplomacy” in Council talks.

Strategically, the file dovetails with the Critical Raw Materials Act.

Recovering 350 tonnes of rare earths a year will not meet Europe’s magnet demand, but it gives the EU a bargaining chip in upstream supply negotiations. Expect the final text to reference strategic autonomy more explicitly—especially if the Parliament tilts right and looks for industrial-competitiveness angles.

The ELV regulation is poised to become a litmus test of whether the EU can marry circular-economy rhetoric with hard-edged industrial policy. The political deal, when it comes, will reveal how far Europe is willing to go to keep the value of a car’s last journey inside its borders.