Depollution and dismantling of end-of-life products
Construction, operation and upgrade of facilities dismantling and depolluting complex end-of-life products, movable assets and their components for materials recovery or preparation for re-use of components.
The economic activity includes the dismantling of end-of-life products and movable assets and their components of any type, such as automobiles, ships and electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) for material recovery.
The economic activity does not include the treatment of batteries stemming from separate collection or removed during dismantling and depollution activities, and the demolition and wrecking of buildings and other structures (see Section 3.3. of the applicable Delegated Act).
The economic activities in this category could be associated with several NACE codes, in particular E38.31, E38.32 and E42.99 in accordance with the statistical classification of economic activities established by Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006.
Substantial contribution
This activity can make a substantial contribution to the following objective(s). The activity must also pass DNSH assessment against the remaining five objectives.
✓ Circular economy
1. The economic activity dismantles and depollutes separately collected waste, in state-of-the-art facilities, from complex end-of-life products, such as automobiles, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) or ships, in order to:harvest parts and components that are suited for re-use; separate non-hazardous and hazardous waste fractions suited for material recovery including recovery of critical raw materials;remove hazardous substances, mixtures and components, so that these are contained in an identifiable(60) stream or that are an identifiable part of a stream within the treatment process, and send them to facilities permitted for proper treatment including disposal of hazardous waste; enclose documentation of the materials that are sent for further treatment or reuse.2. The economic activity dismantling and depolluting waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) complies with the requirements set out in Article 8 of Directive 2012/19/EU and in Annexes VII and VIII to that Directive. The economic activity dismantling and depolluting end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) complies with the requirements set out in Article 6 and 7 of Directive 2000/53/EC and in Annex I to that Directive.3. For the dismantling and depollution of scrap ships, the facility is included in the European List of ship recycling facilities as laid down in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/2323(61). For the construction of a new facility or the upgrade of an existing facility which is not yet included in the European List of ship recycling facilities, the facility fulfils all requirements set out in Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council(62) and has applied to be included in the European List of ship recycling facilities.4. For the dismantling and depollution of Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End-of-Life vehicles (ELVs), waste originates from collection points meeting the applicable requirements set by Union(63) and national legislation.
Do No Significant Harm criteria
To be taxonomy-aligned, this activity must not significantly harm any of the five objectives it does not substantially contribute to.
Climate change mitigation
N/A
Climate change adaptation
The activity complies with the criteria set out in Appendix A of the applicable Delegated Act.
Water and marine resources
The activity complies with the criteria set out in Appendix B of the applicable Delegated Act.
Pollution prevention and control
1. The facility is equipped to manage and store safely and in an environmentally sound manner hazardous substances, mixtures and components removed during the depollution operations.2. For end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), the facility complies with the requirements for sites for storage and treatment, depollution and treatment operations set in Annex I to Directive 2000/53/EC.3. For waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the facility complies with the requirements for proper treatment set out in Article 8 of Directive 2012/19/EU, in particular with the requirements for selective treatment for materials and components of WEEE set out in Annex VII to Directive 2012/19/EU and for storage and treatment operations set out in Annex VIII to Directive 2012/19/EU.The facility complies with normative requirements relevant to its activities for de-pollution set out in the standards EN 50625-1:2014(64), EN 50625-2-1:2014(65), EN 50625-2-2:2015(66), EN 50625-2-3:2017(67) and EN 50625-2-4:2017(68). Implementation of such measures can also be demonstrated through compliance with regulatory requirements that are equivalent to those set out in the EN standards mentioned above.For the treatment of WEEE containing volatile fluorocarbons (VFCs) and volatile hydrocarbons (VHCs) and WEEE containing mercury, emissions are within or lower than the emission levels associated with the best available techniques (BAT-AEL) ranges as set out in the best available techniques (BAT) conclusions for waste treatment(69).4. For ship recycling, the facility complies with the requirements set out in Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 and is included in the European List of ship recycling facilities established under that Regulation. The facility complies with the requirements set out in Article 7 of that Regulation with regards to the preparation of a ship-specific recycling plan prior to any recycling of a ship.
Key thresholds
| Metric | Threshold | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| emissions for WEEE containing volatile fluorocarbons (VFCs), volatile hydrocarbons (VHCs), and mercury | within or lower than the emission levels associated with the best available techniques (BAT-AEL) ranges |
Documentation typically required
- European List of ship recycling facilities — Facility must be included in the European List established under Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013.
- Ship-specific recycling plan — Facility must prepare a ship-specific recycling plan prior to any recycling of a ship, as per Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013.
Biodiversity and ecosystems
The activity complies with the criteria set out in Appendix D of the applicable Delegated Act.
Criteria sourced from the EU Taxonomy Navigator. Applicable act: Climate Delegated Act (OJ L 442, 9.12.2021). Last verified: 19 July 2026.
Related reading: EU Taxonomy explained · Evidence sustainability auditors look for
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