19th IARC in Vienna

This year’s International Automobile Recycling Congress (IARC 2019) will take place in Vienna from 20 to 22 March. The next International Automobile Recycling Congress (IARC) will be held in Vienna in a few weeks. The Lecture Committee has drafted a great program with excellent speakers and interesting topics. Manfred Beck, Chairman of the IARC Steering Committee, talks about the forthcoming congress.

What highlights can participants look forward to this year?

This year, the IARC has three first-rate keynote speakers who will highlight important issues concerning the automobile recycling industries. Andreas Tschiessner of strategy consultancy McKinsey & Co. will elaborate on ‘Mobility’s Circular Economy Potential’, Johann Prammer of steelmaker voestalpine will address the issue of the steel industry’s technology trends and materials for 2050. And I myself, in my capacity as Chairman of the IARC Steering Committee, will look back on “19 years of the ELV Directive – what has it brought the industry?” Another highlight on the first day of the congress is the panel discussion ‘Opportunities of the Circular Economy’, with the participation of eight industry experts.

What will the main topics of this year’s congress be?

Amongst other things, the IARC 2019 will place special emphasis on the following: reuse and recycling, legislation and regulation, sorting and classification, e-mobility and car battery recycling. The IARC is also organising plant tours to three very interesting companies. The Scholz Austria Group is a market leader in recycling ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, notably in the field of ELV recycling. Isovolta manufactures technical laminates and composites. voestalpine Stahlwelt manufactures, processes and develops steel for high-quality products and innovative solutions.

To what extent has the topic of e-mobility reached the automotive recycling industry?

E-mobility is a subject of growing importance to the car recycling industry. Notably the storage, transportation and recycling of lithium-ion batteries have to be carefully studied because safety is a major issue.

Until a few months ago, global automobile sales were still brilliant, but have weakened in recent months. Must car recyclers prepare for fewer end-of-life cars?

Although global car sales dropped a bit last year, there is no reason for the industry to worry that fewer ELVs will become available to the market. Last year, car sales in Europe even increased for the fifth year in succession, by 0.1% to total 15.2 million vehicles.

This year, for the first time, IARC will present a so-called ‘industry barometer’ in which we ask delegates about their opinion on the state of the industry. We will then be able to give a more detailed answer about the general feeling of actors in the automobile industry.

For all the details on the program and how to register, go to: www.icm.ch/iarc-2019.