Russian Auto Junk: How To Swallow And Not Choke

29.01.2010 — Analysis

In the end of 2009 the RusBusinessNews correspondent analysed in detail the Russian pilot project on scrapping vehicles older than 10 years. In the month passed the programme has acquired more detail and posed more questions. In order to develop the project, the Chairman of the Russian Government Vladimir Putin assigned the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade to start the programme on 8 March and finish the intake of old bangers from the population on 1 November 2010. The number of participating regions has been extended from the initially selected nineteen to include all the subjects of the Federation. 

The Prime Minister openly admitted that the country lacks scrapping facilities. "In all the regions of the Russian Federation there are not enough enterprises which could do this work. But I ask in the shortest time in the first half of January, regardless of holidays to develop and finalize the process. It is necessary to focus the effort on those regions where this scrapping can be realized. It is necessary to designate the points of collection for these scrapped vehicles, the logistics, that is transporting these vehicles to locations where they will be scrapped," is how Mr Putin has set the goal.

According to the latest version of the pilot programme any citizen of the Russian Federation who has owned a car older than 10 years for at least a year can participate in the programme. Having scrapped the vehicle the car owner can get a certificate entitling him to the 50 thousand roubles discount when buying a new car from a dealer. 

Alyona Shipilina, the Press Secretary of the Automotive Industry and Agricultural Machine Building Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the RF, told the RusBusinessNews correspondent that 60-65 models of Russian and foreign brands made in Russia will be covered by this scheme. One certificate can only be used for the purchase of a single car. If one person scraps several vehicles under this programme the discount does not add up. 

According to the scheme developed in the Ministry the car owner is responsible for the delivery of the "banger" to the official dealer for scrapping, then the owner prints out the special scrap certificate form available at the Ministry of Industry and Trade site and processes the letter of authority to carry out operations on taking vehicle off the register, passing it to the scrap centre and other necessary procedures at the dealership. 

Moreover, the parties sign a contract allowing the car dealer to carry out the above actions. Then the participant of the experiment pays up to 3 thousand roubles according to the contract for scrapping and books the chosen new Russian-made car at the dealership purchasing it later with the 50 thousand roubles discount. 

Whilst the sequence of actions on the way from and old car to a new one looks quite clear, then the further fate of the dead "iron horse" remains one big question.

According to Valeriy Kuzovenkov, a former Technical Director of the largest Russian scrap processing enterprise Chelyabvtormet (formerly Chelyabvtorchermet), scrapping cars and other machines was not seen as a problem in the soviet times. From all over the Union not only spent cars but also carriages "sacked" from the railways and large size agricultural machinery were delivered to Chelyabvtorchermet as a the leading enterprise of the domestic scrap procurement. 

For instance the written off Niva combine harvester without any dismantling having gone through the plant's scissors and press came out as a compact square block and then proceeded directly to steelmaking plants into a Martin furnace. The issues of dismantling and sorting, scrap fragmentation, to be more precise and utilisation of toxic liquids were not a concern to Soviet metal makers as Martin furnaces were capable to "digest" scrap with any impurity substances content. All associate components simply burned in the furnace at the ultrahigh temperature and released as gases into atmosphere. By the way, the quality of this kind of Martin steel corresponded to the process. 

Western scrapping technologies in those years had not been that far ahead. For instance, scrap companies in the US simply chucked dead-beat Mustangs and elderly Fords from a pier into water where they got "utilised" by the depths of the ocean.

At the moment these kinds of ways of getting rid of auto junk are hardly acceptable. According to Mr Kuzovenkov today Russian metallurgical plants categorically refuse to take in the hastily cubed automotive "pick and mix". The today's metallurgy all but got rid of Martin process and electric steel furnaces require raw material which is as pure as possible. At scrap intake centres scrap metal has to very carefully sorted, steel must be separated from cast iron and non-ferrous metals, rubber, glass, and autoplastics have to be removed and toxic liquids transferred to special tanks.

The expert reckons that today the scrap intake centres have be given large areas for storing vehicles and the dismantling itself has to be carried out in specially equipped heated bays. It would also be quite logical to assume that spontaneous car markets will mushroom around the scrap intake centres as Russian drivers are not proud and happy to buy cheap second hand cars. This means that everything with any value will end up at car markets as spare parts or go to second hand dealers. 

According to Roman Petrov, PhD in technical sciences, the scrap intake centres have to be licensed and equipped with special tools and machines. For instance, there have to be water insulated areas with tanks for collection and separate storage of all liquids, sinkers and purifiers, devices for water treatment and purification, fire safety system in areas for storage of tyres, polymers, and other combustible automotive components. 

Specialised equipment is also necessary. This includes shredders; these are large plants where special hammer crusher first breaks the car into small pieces and at the same time knocks paint, rust, slag and other impurities off the vehicle. Then, using methods of magnet, air, weight, and manual separation, scrap is sorted into ferrous, non-ferrous and light fractions which include polymers, upholstery, glass etc. These fractions amount to 20-25% of a vehicle's weight and have to, as a rule, be taken to a landfill site or incinerated.

So far in Russia there are no companies capable of full automotive recycling. The foundation required to create such companies is being established with some intensity. According to Igor Nechayev, the Commercial Director of the Cherepovets Iron and Steel Works, the company has already started the project of the construction of the shredder plant for scrap processing within the investment programme; the plant with the annual processing capacity of 1 million tons will enable the company to have the full cycle car scrapping process. 

The majority of Russian scrap procurement companies, however, are rather suspicious of the pilot project. So far they do not quite understand the sequence of work within this programme; moreover, the needed legislation is still lacking. 

Mikhail Bendyak