Abstract
In Korea, the Vehicle Dismantler and Recycler industry is supervised by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport under the Automobile Management Act. Also, Korean Automotive recycling businesses are supervised by the Minister of Environment under the Resource Recirculation Act. The main concern of the Minister of Environment is how the wastes from Dismantled vehicles will be environmentally removed, stored, treated, recycled or disposed. In 2000, the European Union (EU) adopted the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC) which required Members to ensure the collection, treatment and recovery of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The Directive, the most tightly regulated and precautionary legal systems, required that the last owner of a vehicle could drop off the ELV at an authorized treatment facility and that the producers of the ELV should pay the cost of the program. The adoption of the ELVs directive has led the development of Automotive Dismantler and Recycler networks to reuse, refurbish, remanufacture, recycle and recover parts and materials embedded in ELVs. Also, the ELVs directive which has had an insignificant impact on Korean manufacturers has strong presence in the European market and has been successfully externalized on them. The Korean manufacturers not only achieve the 85% recycling target set by the ELVs directive but also meet the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) which requires manufacturers to contribute dismantling process. In order to improve the Korean vehicle dismantling and recycling system, the Automobile Management Act and the Resource Recirculation Act should be harmonized. Particularly the roles of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Minister of Environment should be sharply divided. Like Japan, the ELV management needs to be highly centralized, regulated, and controlled by the ministry specialized in Vehicle, namely the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the sub organizations. Like EU Members, recovery, reuse, and recycling must be distinguished. Recovery is defined as the final productive use of the parts and materials embedded in ELVs, which includes reuse and remanufacture of parts and recycling of the other materials. Dismantling process and reuse and remanufacture of parts must be governed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. For environmental recycling or disposal of waste materials, such as CFCs, glass and plastic material, and toxic substances, governmental financial support system should be in place.