The efficiency of the resource recovery system in the automobile industry is not well understood. The effectiveness of resources recovery for used oil, filters and containers in four Canadian provinces were assessed from 2010 to 2022. The collection rates of resources, financial performance, and temporal changes of two original indicators: Resource Recovery Per Vehicle (RRPV), and Expenses Per Vehicle (EXPV) were examined. British Columbia and Quebec had the highest collection rates of used oil, filters, and containers (mean ranging 83.0 to 92.9 %). Despite having lowest mean collection rate of used oil (71.0 %) and filters (78.7 %), Saskatchewan has significant RRPV for used oil (20.4 L) and filters (2.12 units). Decreasing RRPV (−0.01 to −0.38) trends were identified in all jurisdictions, suggesting the need for targeted recovery strategies towards automotive sectors. A mild increasing trend of EXPV in all jurisdictions is observed (slope + 0.02 to + 0.08). Quebec exhibited the most cost-efficient resource recovery, with EXPV ranging from $2.4 to $3.3 per unit vehicle. Profit margin analysis revealed consistently high margins of 8.6 % in Quebec, contrasting with Manitoba’s lower 1.3 %. The lower profit margin may partly be due to higher administrative costs (16.1 %). The findings highlight the potential benefits of the proposed RRPV and EXPV indicators in evaluating management systems for used oil, filters, and containers.

This work investigates the use of toluene, d-limonene and three deep eutectic solvents (based on choline chloride, urea and zinc chloride) for the delamination process of recovered and de-glassed end-of-life solar panels. The organic solvents that have been previously investigated for delamination such as toluene and trichloroethylene are generally hazardous and fossil fuel derived. To evaluate and compare the effectiveness of separation of alternative solvents to toluene, solar panel laminates recovered from end-of-life solar modules were exposed to the respective solvent at 30 °C, 90 °C and (for deep eutectic solvents) 160 °C for 30 – 60 min at each temperature. After chemical treatment the recovered photovoltaic material and encapsulant was sieved into the size fractions > 1.0 mm, 1.0 – 0.5 mm and < 0.5 mm before being oxidised at 550 °C to quantify the remaining encapsulant in each fraction by mass change. It was found that d-limonene has a similar degree of separation as toluene. Moreover, d-limonene showed an improved recovery of up to 4.5 times more photovoltaic cell material below the 1.0 mm size fraction making it a more effective alternative. No discernible effects were observed for either of the three deep eutectic solvent combinations tested. The experimental data obtained was used to model and compare a separation process based on toluene and d-limonene, with maximal solar photovoltaic cell recoveries of 10 % for toluene delamination and 39 % for d-limonene delamination in size fractions < 1.0 mm.