21 May 2025
Environmental organisations, think tanks and recycling industry call for measures to boost the use of recycled steel in the automotive sector
In July 2023, the European Commission adopted its proposal to revise and merge the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive and the 3R Type-Approval Directive into a single Regulation on Circularity Requirements on Vehicle Design and on Management of End-of-Life Vehicles. The proposal aims to strengthen the EU single market while improving the circularity of the sector and reducing the environmental impacts associated with the design, production, use, and end-of-life treatment of vehicles.
The organisations who co-signed the statement below support the objectives of the proposal to improve the circularity of the automotive sector through measures such as design requirements for new vehicles and treatment obligations for end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), as well as improved definitions, information requirements, enhanced traceability of ELVs.
Strong measures will increase the uptake of more recycled steel in the automotive industry, will strengthen the European recycling sector, reduce the environmental impact of car production, increase the EU’s competitiveness, and lessen Europe’s reliance on strategic and critical raw materials.
While these new moves are welcomed, various new studies provide robust evidence to support more ambitious measures that should be taken into consideration in the co-legislation process – such as a target of 30% recycled content for steel from post-consumer scrap in all vehicles covered by the Regulation by 2030, increasing to 40% by 2035.
This target should include a share of recycled steel sourced from ELVs as well as a significant share of recycled steel sourced from local post-consumer scrap (i.e., made or processed in Europe).