In Denmark dismantlers only send motorcycle parts beyond repair to be recycled. All other parts from the vehicle are dismantled and sold to motorcyclists for reuse.

Danish research shows that the reuse of parts of dismantled bikes is very high; the collection and dismantling of motorcycles that are no longer in use helps to keep bikes on the road with used and affordable spare parts, instead of using new parts that have to be produced from raw materials.

Europe has rules in place for the collection and destruction of cars that have come to the end of their life. Motorcycles are exempt from these rules. The European Commission now plans to revise the End-of-life Vehicles Directive and explores the need to have powered two-wheelers included in the scope.

In Denmark the market for used motorcycles and parts is relatively big, because of high taxes on both new vehicles (160% plus 25% VAT) and on new parts (25% VAT). There are very few used motorcycle parts-only shops, but there are some motorcycle and car dismantlers (or ‘breakers’). For the survey nine dismantlers were approached (including the biggest one in Denmark), which is approximately 70 percent of the registered dismantlers.

The survey, conducted by Niels Hansen for FEMA members DMC and MCTC, shows that only parts beyond repair are send to recycling. All other parts from the vehicle are dismantled and put into stock; most parts are from motorcycle models over ten years old. Newer motorcycles are sold to be rebuild unless they are too damaged. In that case they are dismantled.

Because of the tax rates in Denmark the use of older parts is high. Another reason is that many manufacturers of motorcycles stop producing and stocking parts for motorcycle models older than fifteen to twenty years.

‘It is so easy to screw useable things off motorcycles and reuse them’.

All the dismantlers that took part in the survey acknowledged that motorcyclists have been keen ‘recyclers’ decades before this became an issue in international politics.

One dismantler mentioned that using the internet to sell used parts from dismantled vehicles, especially to countries with higher prices for new parts, also helps to reach a high percentage of recycling.

None of the nine dismantlers interviewed has ever seen any motorcycles being compressed like a car in a scrap machine. One said: ‘It is so easy to screw useable things off motorcycles and reuse them, we only send broken parts to be recycled.’

Earlier this year the Finnish motorcyclists’ association SMOTO – a member of FEMA – carried out a study on the level of reuse of powered two-wheeler parts. Click here for the article.

FEMA is of the opinion that motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers should not be included in a new directive (click here for FEMA’s full position).

If the European Commission does propose to include motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers in an End-of-life Vehicles Directive, FEMA would ask the Commission to ensure that the possibility of controlled in-house demolition remains possible (as part of a circular economy), either by including it in the Directive, or by allowing Member States to make their own rules and regulations for in-house demolition.

If the European Commission does propose to include motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers in an End-of-life Vehicles Directive, FEMA would ask the Commission to ensure that historic powered two-wheelers or powered two-wheelers of value to collectors or intended for museums, kept in a proper and environmentally sound manner, either ready for use or stripped into parts, do not fall within the scope of this Directive.

Inclusion of motorcycles in the scope of the directive could mean a serious threat to historical motorcycles. These bikes are especially dependent upon on available and affordable original spare parts to keep them in working order. And who wants to see oldtimers disappear into state approved demolishing facilities?

Written by Wim Taal

Top photograph courtesy of mtai.edu.au

This article is subject to FEMA’s copyright