The  2011 EGARA springmeeting was hosted by DAG in the Tivoli Hotel in Copenhagen on May 20th.

In the morning the conference was held with 3 speakers: Lis Vedel from the Ministry of Environment, Torvald Isager from HJH and Soren Sonniksen.

Lis Vedel explained the legal system in Denmark and was very open to hear about other national systems. The governments goal is to prevent that ELV’s end up abandoned in nature or elsewhere. In Denmark, the 220 dismantlers’ companies fall under the community’s authority and enforcers. To guarantee a minimum level, they must all (besides the local approvals) be ISO 14000 and 9000 certified. The last owner is paid € 235,- from a fund that’s filled with € 8,-/year via insurance premiums. With this money, the last owner can always get rid of his car at an official dismantler. In 2010, 95.681 COD’s were issued.

Torvald Isager told about HJH recyclers. This is a 4th generation recycling company. They have 19 yards in Denmark and 4 in Sweden. One of their shredders is the biggest one in Europe with 8000 horsepower that’s capable of doing 400 ELV’s an hour. He explained separation techniques in their shredders that used even optical and radio-active marking and pneumatic separation. They are also very busy winning back valuable metals from electronics.

Soren Sonniksen explained the Danish way of dismantling and receiving of premiums.

In the afternoon the closed meeting was planned. OEM parts numbers and interchange are a need in which we should find a way to obtain them. It was decided to join the IARC as a keynote speaker next March. The executive committee was re-elected for another 3 years. Finland was accepted as new EGARA member. EGARA decided to donate some money to the Japanese JARA, as they are still recovering from the earthquakes. Frome EGARA, as well from her members money will be collected and offered to JARA, we feel they really need it. The next meeting will be in December in Krakau.

Next day the delegation visited SUHR’s Auto Genbrug in Copenhagen. This was a big company with lots of activities like body repair, garage, car sales etc. They were located in a former shipyard and the big cranes still were present. The dismantlers company was in the middle of a reorganisation and busy moving their stock to newly built storage with many floors. In the afternoon the DR (Dansk Radio) studio’s were visited and the acoustic techniques used were really impressive.

EGARA had another successful meeting and thanks DAG for hosting and taking good care.