State Committee on Ecology comments on motives for introducing recycling fee

Today in Uzbekistan, there is no well-functioning system that allows timely and safely recycling of vehicles, the department for public relations and mass media of the State Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection said.

Utilization of vehicles is an activity that is not only of a market nature, but also serves as a basis for ensuring environmental safety, which is why this type of activity should be subject to mandatory state regulation, the report reads.

This confirms the experience of foreign countries, where the law on auto-recycling is adopted and successfully operates. A special industry, established in the leading countries of the world, for processing and recycling of automobiles deals with the problems of recycling materials, as well as the reuse of used parts, components and assemblies.

“In order to ensure environmental safety, protect the environment and public health from the harmful effects of the operation of vehicles, increase the responsibility of manufacturers and importers of vehicles, maximize the involvement of waste in industrial circulation as secondary raw materials, saturate the domestic market with high-quality vehicles, it is considered extremely important to develop normative-legal documents providing for introduction of utilization fee for each vehicle imported into the Republic of Uzbekistan or implemented by the organization – a local manufacturer and intended for operation in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan,” the State Committee on Ecology reported.

Adoption of such a document will allow the legislation to introduce a mechanism for regulating relations in the field of recycling of motor vehicles and to create conditions for restricting the importation into Uzbekistan of used and technologically obsolete vehicles.

In addition, the volume of annual imports by legal entities of passenger cars to Uzbekistan averages about 17,500 units per year, so the need to take care of the environment and protect it from the negative effects of the operation of vehicles is an important task.

“Exhaust emissions to the atmosphere cause significant damage to the environment. In Uzbekistan, the annual emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere from vehicles is about 1,560 thousand tons per year,” the committee calculated.

The problems of recycling vehicles are also acute due to the negative impact on the environment. In 2018, a technical inspection of 2.8 million units of vehicles was conducted, about 1.0 million units were declared non-compliant with mandatory vehicle safety requirements, 24,818 vehicles were written off due to unsuitability for further operation.

A few decades ago, the European countries faced the problem of recycling old cars and their components. This problem is constantly exacerbated due to an increase in the number of out-of-service vehicles.

There is no unified legislation on utilization of automobiles in the EU countries, every state deals with this problem by virtue of its capabilities. In Germany, the reception of cars is organized free of charge for citizens who donate a car for recycling. In addition, local automakers are required to make their cars from materials that are 95% recyclable.

In France, there is a standard for the number of recycling points at the legislative level. For 1.5 million people there should be at least 7. Citizens of this country are obliged to take their cars for recycling when the vehicle becomes unusable. Otherwise, they are fined up to ‎€75,000 or imprisoned for 2 years.

In Norway, when buying a new car, citizens pay 2.000 NOK. This amount will be returned to them when the car is transferred to the disposal center. In Austria, transport owners are subject to a state environmental tax, which is paid once. In Belgium, the recycling fee is included in the road tax and is charged annually, depending on the engine size of the vehicle.