In the spring of 2023, Vedia started working with Suomen Autokierratys (Finnish Car Recycling) to develop a tailored collaboration platform for vehicle scrapping. The work was based on a study commissioned by Sitra on the weaknesses and strengths of the current process and how the process could be made more efficient with digital tools. In other words, how the data economy could support the circular economy.
For Vedia, the work started by getting to know the sector and conducting interviews with the official operators and other stakeholders of car recycling. From the interviews, it was learned that the sector contains a specialized network of stakeholders, within which approaches and practices may differ, but all have a clear place and know how to take care of their part of the car being scrapped. Much has already been done to improve the systems and digitalization of recycling operators. However, there is still much scope for improving transparency and seeking greater efficiency in the scrapping process, particularly on the data-sharing side. It is precisely for this need that Finnish Car Recycling has ordered an electronic CaaS Market service platform from Vedia.
A field visit to Teräskolmio Oy’s Nurmijärvi site in Röykkä.
The idea behind the CaaS Market platform is both to provide a new alternative service channel for consumers and, above all, to bring together the industry. The new platform will make a vehicle that has been reported for scrapping or has arrived available to all official operators. The platform will also provide an automated vehicle search, allowing operators to assess whether there is a need for re-use and spare parts or whether the vehicle should be sent for shredding as soon as possible. In the past, this assessment has been made by the recipients, and they will of course continue to do this, but now the decision-making process will be supported by data showing, for example, how many similar vehicles there are in the area in question to justify the removal of spare parts.
The interest in the platform was further enhanced by the EU’s proposal for an End of Life Vehicle (ELV) Regulation, published in summer 2023. The proposal is an update to the existing legislation and when it enters into force, it will require closer monitoring of the scrapping process. This should not be a problem for Finland, as the new platform is well aligned with this proposal.
The development has already reached the stage where a working demo of the platform exists and the user interfaces are starting to take shape. At the same time, discussions on the exchange of information between the platform and the authorities have just started and the hope is that the platform will be ready for production use in early 2024, before the end of 2023.
It has been particularly important for the development that, in addition to Suomen Autokierrätys Oy, all four official operators have been involved in the development and sparring of the platform, and good tips and comments have also been received from other stakeholders in the sector, such as car dismantlers and scrap yards. It seems that although the platform is now being created primarily for Finnish Car Recycling, many additional services have begun to emerge and the platform can be scaled up to other stakeholders in the future. At the same time, it should be noted that the EU Regulation applies to all EU countries and therefore Vedia is also interested in the international dimension.
Author:
Lasse Nykänen
Project Director
lasse.nykanen(at)vedia.fi