Mayo appeal for support of car recycling operations
An appeal has been issued to the Minister for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to make funding available to car recycling businesses in Mayo.
It has been made by Senator Paddy Burke who raised the matter during a debate in An Seanad.
The Castlebar-based representative outlined: "We have recycling centres, bottle banks, glass banks and the recycling of steel, among other things, and it all goes into a bin where it is mashed up and then it is reused again.
"The dismantling of cars and the recycling of the components is completely different. I wrote to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications about it some time ago.
"I recently visited Naughton's Car Dismantlers in Belcarra.
"It provides a great service for our county in getting rid of old and unused cars.
"Ian Naughton runs a magnificent show but he is getting very little funding. The work is very labour-intensive and requires massive warehousing and specialised computer software. There are not many grants available for this work.
"Mr. Naughton has to build an enormous warehouse. These warehouses have to be computerised.
"The warehouse can also be automated so that if a person goes in looking for a part he or she can get it by going through the computer and it comes down online.
"What he is doing there is completely different to recycling and there is no grant aid towards it.
"He has developed software that puts a carbon credit on every part taken from a car or other vehicle that can be reused.
"When someone in the motor trade goes in and buys a second-hand part from Mr. Naughton - he sells online as well as allowing people to come in off the street to buy parts - the buyer gets a certificate with the carbon credit for the part.
"That tells how much a person is saving by using a second-hand part rather than buying a new one. All this costs an enormous amount of money.
"The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications cannot do anything for him but I think the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is the proper place for this.
"The government should provide grant aid to such people to put proper facilities in place for this purpose right around the country."
In response, Minister of State Alan Dillon said the compliance scheme for end-of-life vehicles, ELVs, is operated by End-of-Life Vehicles Environmental Services, ELVES, a non-profit company that was set up by vehicle manufacturers to help them to deliver their obligations under the end-of-life vehicles regulations.
ELVES received approval to operate as the compliance scheme for the vehicles sector in 2017.
It is funded solely by its producer members. Fees paid by the producer members are spent on reuse, recycling and recovery of end-of-life vehicles. In 2022, €2 of every €3 of its income were spent directly on these costs.
It is important that end-of-life vehicles are recycled to extract valuable materials from them, which contribute to the EU's self-sufficiency in the area of critical raw materials. Critically, appropriate disposal and recycling is necessary to ensure end-of-life vehicles do not harm the environment.
He outlined: "In a circular economy, when a product has reached the end of its life, its parts can be used again and again to create further useful products, such as in the car recycling industry.
"The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication has run a circular economy innovation grant scheme for a number of years.
"I understand an announcement is expected shortly regarding this year’s call for applications.
"This scheme is specifically aimed to support innovation and demonstrate circular economy projects by small and medium enterprise and social enterprises.
"It is a key objective of the scheme to support projects that will have a direct impact on operating environments and act as a demonstrator for others.
"A further €650,000 has been allocated to support the scheme in 2024, bringing the total funding to €1.8 million since the scheme was launched in 2021.
"Similarly, the Environmental Protection Agency’s circular economy programme promotes circularity as an economic model to enhance coherence and alignment among national, regional and local activities. The desired outcome is to mobilise businesses.
"Naughtons Car Dismantlers is one of the premium dismantlers in County Mayo and should be supported. I certainly support the Senator in that regard.
"While I know Mayo local enterprise office does fantastic work, it is important that our network of enterprise support agencies expands to provide individualised supports for businesses of every size.
"I encourage people in businesses who have ideas to speak to the local enterprise office which can direct them further on where the expertise and funding may become available."