Turn In the Old Bus for a Refund? It’s Possible : Autos: Putting a deposit on a car so that it could be recycled instead of junked may be five years or so down the road, a researcher says.

The day of the no-deposit, no-return car could soon be upon us, as auto makers are asked to take responsibility for their wares from the showroom all the way beyond the scrap heap.

Imagine returning your car to the manufacturer just as it belches its last cloud of carbon monoxide. You might even be refunded a security deposit good toward your next purchase, while your old car is methodically disassembled, its parts channeled into a giant recycling operation.

Or imagine bringing a 5- or 6-year-old car into your dealer to have it updated with the latest emission and safety controls, thereby adding to its value as a used car, while reducing its potential to pollute.

Those are just two of the more novel ideas being bandied about by groups hoping to get auto makers to meet more than just pollution standards during the manufacturing process, or comply with new vehicle-exhaust standards.

One such notion is the returnable automobile. After all, if it can be done with bottles, why not automobiles?

“That’s in the cards,” said David E. Cole, director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan.

“Maybe within five years or so, there will be a deposit on cars,” said Cole, who was recently granted funding for a comprehensive study on what he calls the “life-cycle management” of automobiles. “That would provide a positive incentive to return them and provide a high degree of recyclability.”

Such a system could be potentially profitable for car makers while being environmentally sound.

It could even generate a new source of employment for them--”disassemblers,” as well as auto assemblers.

Although the issue of auto recyclability has been of concern for some time, Cole and industry organizations, like the Automotive Dismantlers and Recyclers Assn. (ADRA) in Fairfax, Va., say the first step is to persuade auto makers to design cars that are as easy to take apart as they are to put together.

The vast majority of cars are made of iron, steel and glass, and are already highly recyclable, even after the many components are resold as used parts or rebuilt.

But plastics, which are being used more and more for parts like bumpers and fenders, are particularly troublesome because many types are not recyclable or simply too expensive to reclaim.

Thermoset plastics, like sheet molded compounds that are used for major body panels on vehicles such as General Motors’ Corvette and new front-drive minivans, are not recyclable.

Thermoplastics are, although they cannot be used to make the same part because quality diminishes during the recycling process.

ADRA, which represents about 5,000 auto dismantlers nationwide, also says that car makers have yet to label such parts.

“It’s very difficult to determine which plastics are recyclable and which aren’t,” said William Steinkuller, ADRA executive vice president. Even if they are properly labeled, Steinkuller said it is often too costly and time-consuming to separate and process plastic parts.

“To properly reclaim a bumper, one has to remove all the molded in metal, as well as any chrome, adhesive, decals and paint,” he said. “With plastics not being very expensive per pound, the cost in manpower and equipment is far more to recapture it than to landfill it. And that’s a real shame.”

Steinkuller, who estimated about 12 million cars were consigned to the scrap pile last year, said rubber also poses a giant problem when it comes to recycling.

“While tires can be recycled, the economics are just not there,” he said, noting that one consequence was the massive Ontario tire fire in February that fouled the atmosphere by burning for weeks.

GM says it has developed a “potential” way to recycle thermoset plastics and tires through a process called pyrolysis, which involves extreme heat to decompose them.

But Dick Klimisch, GM’s executive director of environmental activities, said while there is significant plastics research going on, no current program can solve the issue of a truly recyclable plastic.

“Also, nobody wants to take any risk in using recycled materials that may be inferior,” he noted.

Klimisch said that legislation could eventually force deposit laws for materials with low recycling potential, which could lead to a rise in the use of steel or aluminum. But he does not foresee GM buying into what is an already very capable auto-dismantling industry.

Ford Motor Co. is also paying more attention to what materials it uses, with an eye toward recycling.

“But that doesn’t mean recycling will dictate what materials we use, because they are still chosen on new performance criteria,” said Sandy Labana, manager of Ford’s Polymer Science Department.

The whole issue requires a major rethinking of how cars are made, and where they end up, Cole said.

“Auto makers must take some responsibility to at least assist in a product’s eventual, proper disposal,” Steinkuller said.