It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of ghost cars in Finland. This means that valuable materials such as metal, plastic, rubber and glass aren’t recycled. Car wrecks also have a negative impact on the environment.
Finnish Car Recycling Ltd (Suomen Autokierrätys) is a producer association that coordinates the collection, treatment, and recycling of end-of-life vehicles as required by law. They have developed a new operating system, which will tackle the ghost car problem, and will be introduced during this spring. According to CEO Juha Kenraali, the system will bring about significant changes in the sector. It will provide new, valuable, and transparent data on the different stages of the recycling process.
“In practice, a digital twin is created of the car sent for recycling, and a wide range of data is generated on the stages of the scrapping process. AI is used to assess the potential for reusing parts of the car, or to predict how much material can be recycled from each car,” says Kenraali.
Knowing what can be reused from a single car gives an understanding of what is worth scrapping and what is worth recycling. The car’s journey can be followed from start to finish and all the necessary data is available to those involved in the car recycling ecosystem.
“The actors involved can look at the situation, for example, at a regional level, and assess which spare parts are available in which region and where they are needed,” explains Kenraali.
The system has significant export potential
The idea for efficient, data-based car recycling was born between Finnish Car Recycling and its partners, and the development work involved logistics operators who are enthusiastic about digitalisation and the data economy. One of the people involved in the discussions was Matti Lankinen, CEO of Vediafi Oy.
“The resulting operating model is completely unique in Europe.”
Matti Lankinen, CEO of Vediafi Oy
“When we were thinking in practice about how to advance the open data economy on the logistics side, this need for ghost car processing came up. The resulting operating model is completely unique in Europe,” says Lankinen.
According to Lankinen, the system has been designed and implemented in close compliance with changes in EU legislation, and the new operating model meets the regulatory requirements. In the future, for example, a new car will have to be made partly from recycled materials, and it will be required that some of the materials come specifically from recycled cars. The implementation of this requirement will require a lot of data to support it.
“The new system will deliver benefits as soon as cars are processed through the system. The data can be used, for example, to calculate the carbon footprint and can be used digitally for a wide range of reporting purposes,” says Juha Kenraali, adding that the approach also has significant export potential, as other countries need similar information on deregistered cars.
A boost for the recycling business from location data
A car owner’s reluctance to recycle can be driven by a lack of knowledge or the thought that maybe he or she will need the car one day. But a car that is clearly a waste is a problem that should not be left untreated. The new system makes it easy to start recycling from the comfort of your own home. It is the official way to get your car off the vehicle register. A seamless digital service will benefit not only the consumer and the car recycling ecosystem, but also enforcement and tax authorities. However, this approach and system alone will not solve all the problems in the sector. According to Matti Lankinen, there are still many manual processes in the logistics sector and there is a lot of potential for improvement. Better use of location data is of interest to the logistics sector.
“Often companies are so focused on their core business that the use of geospatial data is a bit neglected.”
Juha Kenraali, CEO of Finnish Car Recycling Ltd
Juha Kenraali agrees and hopes that efficient solutions can be found, for example, to update the vehicle register.
“Generally speaking, the topic of location information could be discussed more in the sector and solutions offered to companies. Often companies are so focused on their core business that the use of geospatial data is a bit neglected,” he says.
There is a shortage of many raw materials in Finland and across Europe, so location data-based innovations could be created in the future to solve problems in this sector.
“Yes, it could generate interest if a certain kind of technology or data could be used to find different sources of materials to recycle. At the moment, operators and other actors are going around municipalities to see if there is anything they can buy that can be recycled,” says Matti Lankinen.
Many of the solutions could be scalable to other industries.
“It is extremely important to create mechanisms to circulate materials and get them into the official producer systems. It is the only way to ensure that the material is handled properly and that the benefits of the process are reaped for the benefit of society as a whole – whether it’s cars or refrigerators, for example,” Juha Kenraali points out.
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