This paper presents an analysis of the Vehicle End of Life (VEOL) trends in the United States based on the VEOL model developed by the Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), a consortium between Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors. The model, developed interactively with the VRP by the Center for Environmental Quality (CEQ) at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), accounts for the economic and the material transfer interactions of stakeholders involved in the VEOL process; the insurance valuation, salvage pool, dismantling, rebuilding, maintenance and repair, shredding, and landfilling [Bustani, et al., 1998].
The scenarios analyzed using the VEOL model consider regulations from Europe as well as the U.S. market factors and business policies. The model recognizes the importance of materials choices during vehicle design by tracking twenty-four different materials, classified as plastics, non ferrous metals, ferrous metals and other materials, and twenty six assemblies such as base engine, transmission, fuel tank and body shell.
Three scenarios are analyzed using the VEOL Model: the first is directed to understanding the effect of plastics recyclability on the overall recycling rate of the vehicle over time; the second assesses the effect of new vehicles sales variations on vehicle end of life stakeholders; finally the third shows how a change in body-in-white materials affects the stakeholders of the vehicle end of life process and the recycling rate.