The study of environmental impacts for end-of-life vehicles in Taiwan

摘要

In order to reduce the environmental impacts, many manufacturers employ the "source reduction" instead of the "end-of-pipe" technologies in their processes. Design for X, such as recyclability, reusability, and non-toxicity, becomes more and more popular attributing to the strict recycling and reuse regulations in Taiwan. Wasted vehicles are much interested in the local recycling systems. It, however, is not completely assessed the impacts of end-of-life vehicles, that may cause huge volume of wastes in near future. This paper presents an LCA framework to analyze the environmental impacts of ELVs in Taiwan. Three selected models of ELVs were simulated in the SimaPro software, using a local inventory data. The results show that the most significant contributor of environmental impacts caused by a vehicle is in the use stage. The recycling of waste materials could benefit to reduce some impact but not much. It is estimated about 5 % reduction of environmental impacts through exist recycling system.