Multi-Criteria Evaluation of End-of-Life Vehicles’ Dismantling Scenarios with Respect to Technical Performance and Sustainability Issues

Three scenarios of dismantling and shredding operations of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) were compared in this study with respect to technical and sustainability criteria, according to the level of dismantling applied to the vehicles. The scenarios differed from each other in the extent of the dismantling operations. They were implemented experimentally at the industrial scale on representative samples of 120 vehicles. The data collected from the monitoring of the experimental campaigns were used as feed data for the multi-criteria analysis of the scenarios using the PROMETHEE method. Nine criteria of evaluation were selected, namely global warming, local environmental impacts, tropospheric ozone production, ecotoxicity, operational costs, investment costs, occupational risks, employability, and technical performance. The medium-level dismantling scenario was identified as the best scenario with respect to the criteria of evaluation. This scenario included the steps of depollution, followed by the removal of easily accessible and identifiable plastics and glasses. Reasonable changes in the ponderation of the evaluation criteria did not significantly affect the ranking.