Study Forecasts Increase In Automotive Material Recycling

WORLD WASTES STAFF

Cleveland - Scrap generation of automotive materials in the United States will increase 1.7 percent per year to nearly 29 million tons in 1997, according to a study conducted by The Freedonia Group Inc., Cleveland.

The Freedonia Group study, which summarizes the outlook for recycling au-tomotive materials including ferrous and non- ferrous metals, plastics, rubber and fluids and lubricants, predicts that gains will be restrained by the continued downsizing of light motor vehicles. Also, ferrous metals, which account for the bulk of scrap generation, are expected to continue to dominate automotive materials re-cycling activity while automotive plastics will post the largest gains in recycling.

Efforts to re-claim a larger portion of the automotive scrap/waste stream will in-crease the volume of scrap automotive ma-terials recycled in the United States.

For a copy of the 165-page study, Automo-tive Materials & Recycling, #501, contact: The Freedonia Group Inc., 3570 Warrensville Center Rd. Cleve-land, Ohio 44122. (216) 921-6800.

In fact, scrap automotive materials recycled in the U.S. are expected to increase 4.2 percent annually to reach 20.3 million tons in 1997.

As the automotive industry prepares for automotive recycling legislation, engineers most likely will increase their efforts to design automobiles for disassembly, thus taking the full recycling cycle into account.