We do not stop protecting and caring for the environment the moment a car leaves the production site. The same attention we pay to the quality, fuel efficiency, safety and user comfort of a car is dedicated to its environmental impact throughout its life cycle, encompassing development, production, use and final recycling of the end-of-life product, i.e. from the cradle to the grave.
And it is precisely at the end of a car’s life-cycle that we need to ensure that the worn-out car and its parts are not left lying around the countryside, where dangerous substances (such as oil) could leak and threaten the environment. A car and the materials it is made of can be used to make new products, creating a “Closed-Loop Economy” or “Circular Economy”. Apart from making financial savings, this also decreases resource dependence and, above all, reduces the impact the industry has on the environment.
If you want to get rid of your old, worn-out car while helping to protect the environment, pop in to a ŠKODA AUTO authorised retailer (sale or service partner) and ask about the possibility of disposing of your car for free through our providers, which is a guarantee of highly efficient environmentally friendly recycling processes.
The other end-of-life products we can take care of for you are tyres, electronic devices and starter and portable batteries and accumulators. Authorised retailers will accept these parts from you as part of the take-back service or advise you as to where you can dispose of them free of charge.
ŠKODA AUTO cares about how parts replaced during repairs, take-back products and end-of-life vehicles are handled. Therefore, when selecting our waste management providers, we prefer those who are able to ensure the maximum re-use of all materials (waste and secondary raw materials). As a result, only a fraction of irrecoverable waste is landfilled.
All ŠKODA AUTO models are certified in line with European Directive 2005/64/EC, which sets out requirements for materials, parts labelling and recycling quota. This means that the majority of the materials used in a vehicle are recyclable (min. 85% of the car’s weight) or energetically re-usable (10%). Consequently, less than 5% of the car’s weight is cannot be recovered by current recycling technologies and usually ends up at landfills.
What does “recycling” actually mean?
Basically, recycling involves re-using waste material that has residual value and it would be a pity to dump. In the main, the production process uses “primary resources”, such as crude oil, wood or iron ore. If treated properly, waste can be used, partially or completely, to replace these primary resources. This approach has numerous positive effects on the environment, both direct and indirect (for example, there is an almost 95% energy saving in recycling and then re-using aluminium scrap, as opposed to producing aluminium from the primary source, i.e. bauxite). That is also why the rate of material re-use is a very important criterion when selecting companies to collect and process waste generated not only by our service partners, but also in production.
This is borne out, for example, by the handling of tyres collected in the authorised ŠKODA service network as part of the take-back system. Until recently, worn-out tyres tended to be used as fuel in cement works. However, we managed to find a partner company that not only recycles tyres, but is able to re-use up to 100% of the recycled material.
Have you ever noticed the rubber tiles at a children‘s playground? Have you ever wondered why a tram traversing the city is not making more noise? Have you ever driven a car on an asphalt rubber road? In all likelihood, you have encountered a product made from waste that, thanks to ŠKODA, has been given a second life.