Problem of Abandoned Vehicles in New Zealand - Assignment Example

ABANDONED VEHICLES PROBLEM IN NEW ZEALAND AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING SUMMARY The supply of the motor vehicles in New Zealand increased considerably after the deregulation of the motor vehicle industry. The deregulation was enacted in the year 1986. Used vehicles from Japan were able to find their way into the country. The issue of abandoning used vehicles in the country has raised many environmental problems. The problem of abandoned motor vehicles rose due to lack of recycling measures. The country does not permit recycling of used motor vehicles. Therefore, most of the used motor vehicles are abandoned every year on public property. The rate of motor vehicles deregistration stands at 20% yearly. However, the owners of the abandoned motor vehicles are not easily traced. The New Zealand authorities always try to locate the owners of the abandoned vehicles. Their search at times pays. The authorities are able to locate about 35% of the abandoned car owner. However, this rate is minimal compared to the rate of vehicles which are being abandoned yearly (Kenny, 2001). INTRODUCTION New Zealand had a total of 1.5 million passengers’ cars in the year 1986. This number considerably increased to 2.5 million in the year 2004. The approximated value of used cars that are being imported to the country stands at 70%. Most of these used cars are abandoned by their owners on both private and public properties. The abandonment of these used cars possessed a lot of environmental concerns. This has prompted the motor vehicle industry to come up with policies that reduce the pollution caused. Some of these policies are removal of operating fluids, battery, LPG tanks, tires, CFCs present in the air conditioning units, and defusing of air bags and seat-belts. New Zealand authorities therefore, need to benchmark with Western Europe countries so as to solve their motor vehicle abandonment practices. This is because Western Europe currently leads the world in the management of used motor vehicles. Some of the laid down approaches for proper motor vehicle management are the use of the EU Directive. This directive on motor vehicles was adopted in the year 2000 (Cassells, 2004). EU directive takes into consideration the extended manufacturer responsibility. The directive has also set reuse and various recovery targets. The success of this directive cannot be easily determined at the moment. However, other member countries like the Netherlands and Germany has taken the lead in the implementation of this policy. These two countries have successfully been able to recycle used motor vehicles within their territory. Sweden being a member of this Union was the first country to carry out economic instrument which served as a vital tool in the inducement of proper vehicle disposal (Reuter & Schaik, 2004). CORE ISSUES REGARDING USED VEHICLES DISPOSAL IN NEW ZEALAND New Zealand has a well established motor vehicle recycling industry. The abandoned vehicles enter into the recycling industry through automobile dismantlers. These vehicles come in the form of scrap metals. The abandoned vehicles are also collected by local authorities and taken to recycling industry. The individual and dismantling industry operators are not permitted to have licenses. This is because the process of dismantling the vehicles is hazardous as well as dangerous. No standards or practices have been put in place to regulate the removal and disposal processes. Some of the gases like the CFCs are very dangerous to the environment. Due to lack of proper recycling processes in the country, a lot of motor vehicles are still found on private and public property. The taxpayers incur a lot of cost. These costs are associated with abandoned vehicle management. Some of the management practices are handled, compliance, and administrative cost. However, these costs exclude environmental cleanup cost which is incurred when these vehicles are being cleared from their abandon sites. Some vehicle owners do abandon their vehicles in rugged terrain. These vehicles are never recovered because of inaccessibility of such places. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO INCREASED RATE OF MOTOR VEHICLE ABANDONMENT The abandonment of vehicles in New Zealand is caused by two major factors. These factors are lack of imposed institutional practices and lack of standard recycling practices. Lack of proper imposed institutional practices has allowed motor vehicle manufacturers and owners to shun away from carrying out proper disposal methods for their cars. LACK OF ENFORCEMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES Owners of motor vehicles are required by law to surrender their vehicle registration plates to LTNZ. LTNZ is a body in New Zealand that deals with motor vehicle registration. Once they obtain the registration details of a vehicle, this body cancels that particular motor vehicle from its list of registered vehicles. The vehicles that are removed from the registrar’s list are unlicensed. Their registration is therefore, termed as lapsed. Within this lapse period, the motor vehicle registered owner is not treated as the current owner of the vehicle. The registrations of these vehicles do lapse in two different ways. The registration lapse whenever CVL is not enacted. Secondly, registration of the motor vehicles would lapse when there is a change in ownership and the buyer fails to notify the alleged ownership change (Zoboli et al. 2000). INCONSISTENCIES IN THE ACCEPTANCE OF ABANDONED VEHICLES INTO THE RECYCLING SYSTEM All the vehicles that enter into a recycling system must pass through depollution measures. However, this practice is not standard in New Zealand. A research carried out on seventy-three local authorities proved the inconsistency in acceptance. The records in the storage and collection site were only presented with fifty-two out of the seventy-three authorities. However, out of the fifty-two correspondents from local authorities only forty-seven were able to clear state collection sites cost (Bandivadekar, Kumar, Gunter & Sutherland, 2004). Table1 Levy for vehicle depollution practice No. of LAs Free- of- charge Levy, depollution less Levy, equals to depollution Levy, more than depollution Not accepted at the collection site 6 6 17 14 4 Table1 above shows that a total of six local authorities failed to levy the cost on vehicles that have not undergone depollution. However, these authorities do not have large vehicles to deal with. Some six other authorities were able to charge less cost. The remaining cost will therefore, be borne by taxpayers. Seventeen other collection sites were able to charge cost which was similar to depollution cost. However, four local authorities failed to accept vehicles which have not been taken for depollution. All these factors have contributed to the increased abandoned vehicles in New Zealand. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SAFE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES For proper management of abandoned vehicles in New Zealand, four major practices should be carried out. These practices are recycling, depollution, practicing good dismantling process, and putting reduction measures for the abandoned cars. For proper management process, two major areas should be properly looked into. LEGISLATION AND INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES New Zealand authority should devise a rule that punishes all the vehicle abandoning offenders. They should be automatically infringed. Disownment of motor vehicle ownership from registered owner should be amended. Registered owners should take full responsibility of their vehicles (Zoboli et al. 2000). Enforcement of continuous vehicle licensing should be done. Any overdue license should be infringed. The confirmation process of change of ownership should be done legally. The seller should have the responsibility to transfer all responsibilities to the buyer. Encouragement of recycling should be done. For the offenders of this law, a disposal certificate should be introduced. This will ensure proper disposal of all used vehicles. The certificate should only be issued when the vehicle has been handed to the recycling authorities. ENTRY OF ABANDONED MOTOR VEHICLES INTO RECYCLING SYSTEM All the vehicles should be accepted into the recycling system free of charge. This will ensure that many vehicles are taken for recycling. Because this process of recycling has a negative value, the depollution cost should therefore be charged on the registered owner. Extended responsibility on the producer should also be enforced. This will ensure that the number of the abandoned cars is significantly reduced. This extended responsibility act will ensure that the producers take full responsibility of the environmental preservation measures (Tojo, 2004). REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM THE AUTOMOBILE DISMANTLING COMPANIES Sound management practices have been employed by many dismantling companies in New Zealand. However, some companies have failed to employ these management practices. The recycling rates should be imposed in the country. The material selection and the design decisions of the vehicle should act as the determinants in the recycling rates. Apart from design decisions and material selection, other factors to be considered should be safety, reliability, and fuel efficiency. Currently, recycling is market-driven. The government should come in and put a stamp on this practice. This will enhance this practice and benefit the country as a whole. The country has limited market for recycled products. Creation of awareness on the benefits of recycled materials should be carried out so as to sensitize the public on the importance of recycled products. The country should also reduce imports of used motor vehicles from other countries like Japan. This is because these used cars do not have a long road life. Therefore, the authorities should impose laws that only permit import of new cars and not used ones (Cassells, 2004). CONCLUSION Management of used vehicles has been a problem to many and not New Zealand alone. The abandoning of cars come with a lot of environmental problems. Some of the problems are emissions of CFCs from the air-conditioning units. Therefore, proper management measures should be put in place. New Zealand has been having problems with abandoned cars because of the poor legislative measures which are put in place. Recycling has been the oldest method which has been used to preserve the environment. This process is helpful and besides, it also empowers the citizens. Recycling industry has been known to employ a considerably large portion of the population. New Zealand authorities should therefore legalize recycling so as to be able to properly manage abandoned cars. Proper sensitization should be carried out on the recycled products so as to popularize these products to the public. Fig1. Bad terrain hinders abandoned vehicles removal. Fig2 Recovery processes of abandoned vehicles Fig3 Plastic parts of vehicles BIBLIOGRAPHY Bandivadekar, A.P., Kumar, V., Gunter, K.L., & Sutherland, J.W. (2004). A Model for Material Flows and economic exchanges within the U.S Automotive Life Cycle Chain. Journal of manufacturing systems, 23(1): 22-29 Cassells, S. (2004). Toward Sound Management of End-of Life Vehicles in New Zealand Palmers ton North: Massey University publishing, pp. 45-57 Kenny, H. (2001). Abandoned vehicles. London: Melbourne publishers, pp. 23-34 Reuter, M.A. & Schaik, V.A. (2004). The optimization of End-of-Life Vehicle recycling In the European Union. Journal of Machines, 56(8): 39-47 Tojo, N. (2004). Extended Producer Responsibility as a driver for design change-Utopia Reality? International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, 2(1): 23-29 Zoboli, R., Barbiroli, G., Leoncini, R., Mazzanti, M. & Montresor, S. (2000). Regulation And innovation in the area of end-of-life vehicles. London: Milan publishing, pp. 21-32 Read More