The End-of-Life Vehicles Directive keeps vehicles out of landfill and designs the toxic substances out of them in the first place.

It applies to vehicle manufacturers, material and component producers, importers and distributors, authorised treatment facilities and recyclers, for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and what goes into them.

Adopted in 2000, it restricted lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium from 1 January 2003, with exemptions in Annex II that are amended regularly, and it raised reuse, recovery and recycling targets in 2006 and 2015.

You check every material and component against the restrictions and exemptions, design for dismantling and recycling, provide coding and dismantling information, set up free take-back with certificates of destruction, and register with the national producer-responsibility scheme.

Conphora maps your vehicles and components against the Directive, flags gaps in the heavy-metal restrictions, exemptions, design duties and take-back, and alerts you when Annex II or the proposed Regulation changes.

The full guide is at conphora.com.