That shiny new car you just bought should have a bumper sticker saying "I'm going to be Hazardous Waste". Since January of last year that's how an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) has been designated.
Every car built since June of 2002 is now the responsibility of the manufacturer to dispose of in an environmentally friendly manner. Which they will have to do from 2006 for those newer cars. And all cars built between 1989 and 2002 will be equally the responsibility of the maker to deal with from 2007.
"Dealing with it" will involve recycling or recovering up to 85 per cent of the vehicle initially, and up to 95 per cent of it by 2015.
That could cost the European motor industry up to €30 billion on a European scale, because the legislation requires that there be no charge to the last user of a car to destroy it.
But nobody is sure what the real costs will be, because most countries in the EU still haven't produced enabling legislation, despite it being required by a year ago. Ireland is one of the tardy ones.
In February, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Martin Cullen, told the Dáil that he hoped that all necessary legislation will be in place "by autumn" and the systems will be up and running "by spring" of next year.
In Europe as a whole, some 12 million cars reach the end of their lives every year. In Britain the annual figure is 1.8 million. Ireland's figures are hard to come by but, if we use a European average rate against the Irish car park, it starts at around 100,000 cars a year.
All of this means, among other things, the probable demise of the local car "breaker", because proper destruction of an ELV will require highly specialised "authorised" facilities. This means that only those in the waste management industry who can afford major investment will be in a position to provide them.
It will also mean a significant drop in the numbers of so-called "company cars" sold for joy-riding - and the end of the dumping of wrecks in mountain bogs and back-road ditches.
Success will hinge on whatever stringent penalties and incentives can be devised in the legislation being framed for the Government. One "carrot" which may be considered is a reduction in car registration tax for the next vehicle when a certificate of destruction (aptly acronymed COD) is presented by the former owner of an ELV.
Cars are complex products made of many components which are in varying degrees hazardous, but they are eminently recyclable. Some 75 per cent of the materials in ELV cars throughout the EU and the US are already either recycled or recovered. With some components, such as batteries, that rises to as high as 95 per cent.
Though no real figures are available for Ireland, it's likely that we are far below those rates, given our penchant for just dumping old cars and the lack of facilities for recycling components.
At a global level, a number of manufacturers are already looking to take advantage of the potential ELV business for themselves.
Ford, for instance, has bought up over 30 remanufacturing and recycling businesses in North America and Europe, and anticipates revenues of over $1 billion from recycling ELVs that were once their production pride and joy.
Some countries have been treating the problem seriously long before any legislation. In Germany, a voluntary agreement between the motor industry and the government has been in place since 1994, monitored by an industry body, ARGE Auto, which reports on achievement of goals to both the government and the public.
In the Netherlands, Auto-Recycling Nederland administers information and fees relating to disposal of ELVs. The country had a target of reaching 86 per cent recycling by 2000 but achieved it three years earlier.
In Sweden, legislation has already been adopted to make vehicles at least 85 per cent recyclable.
Cars being marketed since last year are designed to make the 85 per cent requirement possible by the time they reach the end of their lives - a car can last 12 years on average. Any car sold from this year on will be well able for the more stringent requirements of 2015.
The big question mark hangs over the 2007 "sword of Damocles" which makes the carmakers responsible for every car they've ever built. This could cost older firms dearly - one report suggested that VW might have to spend €1.3 billion, while Fiat, Peugeot-Citroën and Renault might be facing charges of €800 million each.
Britain's Rover company, small though it is today, could have relatively enormous bills being dropped through its virtual letterboxes. In Ireland, Toyota and Ford, with the biggest numbers of cars on the road, stand to also feel a painful pinch.
Today's buyer is probably already paying for the end disposal, as carmakers are likely building it into the recommended retail price. As an ELV, that charge will be paid out to the local authorised dismantler, though a reduction based on the value of the recycled materials is no doubt being strongly negotiated.
Government discussions with the industry here have involved the Society for the Irish Motor Industry, the Irish Motor Vehicle Recyclers Association and the Metal Recyclers Association of Ireland. A €100 levy on the price of a new car is expected as part of the legislation - this would go to a fund aimed at paying for some of the disposal costs.
"Agreement has been reached in principle with the main stakeholders on the operation of an appropriate ELV recovery scheme," says Minister Cullen, noting that the SIMI is the "primary" stakeholder.
Part of the legislation will "put certain responsibilities" on the ELV owner to "give the vehicle freely" into the disposal system.
The EU is also directing that governments undertake programmes to make the public aware of the ELV situation, and to encourage the development of recycling markets for the relevant waste components.
In the small market of Ireland, this is problematical. But the size of the European potential market can be hinted at by some statistics from North America, where enough steel is recycled every year to build 13 million new cars. That alone is very similar to the number of cars which the EU reckons just now reach the status of ELVs on this side of the Atlantic.