Our aim at Citroën is to fully recycle our vehicles at the end of their lives. We have therefore put a vehicle life cycle analysis procedure in place where we measure vehicles’ total environmental impact from design all the way to destruction. Using this system also means we can evaluate the materials we use, and make better choices for future cars.
Recycled products have the same technical specifications as new ones. Their thermal and mechanical durability ensure high quality and high performance.
The extremely high quality of green materials means that they can now be used in Citroën vehicles for both hidden and visible parts.
There has been a structure set up for the environmentally-friendly collection and processing of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) within the Citroën network for over 15 years. There are 7 stages to the recycling process.
Trade-in
The last owner of an end-of-life vehicle takes it to an approved trade-in centre. The approved trade-in centre then checks the vehicle and issues the required Certificate of Destruction (CoD).
Pre-processing and depollution
The battery and tyres are removed, and the airbags neutralised. Next, our partner removes any remaining fuel and other liquids from the vehicle: engine oil, transmission oil, brake fluid, and air conditioning coolant. This pollutant waste will then have 100% of its value reinstated in their specialist treatment facility.
Dismantling for re-use
The next step consists of dismantling mechanic parts, bodywork, and electrical and electronic components. These will either be reused as used parts, or reconditioned. If it’s economically viable, materials such as plastic and glass are also salvaged for recycling at this point.
Storage
Environmentally hazardous materials are recovered and sent to companies specialising in waste recycling or destruction.
Crushing
The depolluted shells are sent to a crusher, where they are crushed and shredded into pieces only a few centimetres in size. These pieces are then sent through an initial magnetic sorting process to recover any ferrous metals (steel).
Post-crushing
The remaining crushed material is sorted automatically, using physical properties (magnets, Eddy currents, flotation) to separate the different types of material fragments.
Recycling, recovery and landfill
Once sorted, these material fragments are recycled (metals are sent to steelworks/metalworks, and certain plastics back to the plastics industry) or converted into energy (cement works, urban heating, power stations, etc.). This industrial process means that over 95% of a vehicle’s weight can be reused, recycled or upcycled, which greatly reduces the amount of final waste ultimately sent to specialist landfill sites.
Where can you recycle your vehicle?
If you have an end-of-life vehicle, take it to one of our approved recycling centres.