Councils waste £250 million annually on dumped cars 21/03/2007 Councils waste £250 million annually on dumped cars   Local councils spend a staggering £250 million each year clearing the nation’s streets, roadsides and parks of abandoned cars. That is the startling figure revealed by Recycleyourcar.co.uk, the website aimed at helping drivers to dispose of old vehicles responsibly.    Each year, 50,000 vehicles are torched costing up to £5,000 each – a total of £230 million - to clear-up, with a further £26 million wasted removing the other 250,000 abandoned cars. With two million cars reaching the end of their lifespan each year and approximately only 650,000 disposed of properly, the remaining 1.35 million vehicles that are unaccounted for will keep these figures a constant burden on local councils for years to come.   The End of Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive has already been introduced to curb this problem and ensure cars are disposed of in an environmentally-sound way.  The legislation states that the last owner of a vehicle is responsible for ensuring their car is disposed of in the correct manner at a facility authorised by the Environment Agency - but if drivers are not made aware of their legal responsibilities, millions of pounds will continue to be wasted.   It is a situation that could be avoided, warns Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies. “Due to a lack of government publicity – particularly by the DVLA and VOSA (Vehicle Operator Services Agency) - most people haven’t even heard of the End of Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive, which is already in force in the UK.”    Spokesperson for Recycleyourcar.co.uk, Derek Campbell explains: “In theory, it’s not just the councils that have to pay out as drivers can risk thousands of pounds of fines, or even imprisonment, for non-compliance. If an old car is not taken to an authorised treatment facility (or ATF) the driver will not receive the prescribed Certificate of Destruction. Not only could they then be liable for continued road tax bills but, if the car is subsequently abandoned, under the Clean Neighbourhood Act, 2005, a local authority is now able to issue a £200 fixed penalty for the dumping of a car and under the Refuse Disposal Act, an illegal dumper could be fined up to £2500 and face three months in prison. But despite these risks, because drivers are rarely prosecuted, this threat does not seem to be acting as a real deterrent.”   Commenting on the annual cost to local authorities, he continued: “Although the £250 million figure is shocking, this is nothing compared to the massive environmental cost when the hazardous materials in a vehicle such as oil and lead are not properly recovered and are allowed to seep out into the environment from abandoned vehicles.   “It is now time for everybody involved in this recycling chain, from government through to the vehicle manufacturing and the recycling industries, to pull together to raise awareness and put a stop to the damage we are doing to our environment (and our pockets).”   To help explain the legislation to car owners, Recycleyourcar.co.uk, has produced a series of information posters. The notices will be provided to local authorities free of charge, to be displayed in council buildings, post offices and police stations. The posters will raise awareness of the importance – both environmental and financial - of obtaining a certificate.    Commenting on Recycleyourcar.co.uk’s initiative, Chris Davies MEP said:  “Owners of old cars should be notified of the services available to them with their road tax reminder and those owners whose vehicles fail MOT tests should be directly targeted - but nothing seems to have been done. Recycleyourcar.co.uk has taken a positive step by developing and funding this campaign to help drivers and more importantly, the environment.” Ends. For more information on www.recycleyourcar.co.uk, please contact Carina Hill or Richard Postins at Prova on 01926 776900.     Notes to editors:   Recycleyourcar.co.uk is an initiative from Sims Group UK Limited. Its aim is to provide the UK car owner with an easy to use facility for finding their nearest authorised treatment facility.   Sims Group also aims to provide, through www.recycleyourcar.co.uk a total package of support for independent authorised treatment facilities across the country.   Sims Group UK Limited is the European subsidiary of Sims Group Limited, the world’s leading ferrous and non-ferrous metals recyclers, with operations in Australia, North America, Canada, New Zealand, China and South East Asia.   Established in 1995, Sims Group UK now incorporates multiple sites to form a strong network of collection, processing and export facilities.  With sales of over 2 million tonnes of recycled metal per annum, the company is one of the UK’s largest metals recyclers.