Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF)

Authorised Treatment Facilities are sites licensed by the Environment Agency in England & Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland, to depollute end of life vehicles to set standards by the DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Only ATF's allowed to issue a DVLA Certificate of Destruction.

If you have never heard of an authorized treatment facility, perhaps you will understand it when your vehicle gets old or is written off. This is because you will need to dispose off the vehicle and the only way you can do this is through an authorized treatment facility. This is a company that is licensed under the law by the Environment Agency to scrap or dismantle cars according to specifications that have been set up which are meant to ensure safe disposal of cars and car parts.

Authorized treatment facilities came about due to the fact that careless disposal of vehicles had diverse effects on the environment because most cars were being disposed or recycled without being de-polluted. This was a big concern to the UK which compelled it to look for safer means to handle the situation. The laws were passed and now you cannot dispose your car without an authorized treatment facility. This law is known as The End of Life Vehicle Regulations in the UK.

These facilities serve two main purposes. One is to de-pollute the vehicle before doing anything with it. After de-pollution, the vehicle can now be recycled and sold. This minimizes pollution effects to the environment in a big way. To do this, the authorized treatment facility will have to empty all fluids from the car such as fuel, brake fluid and engine oil. Secondly, the facilities help in de-registration of vehicles. One thing you have to realize is that you cannot de-register your car to stop paying road tax without proof that it has been properly destroyed. With a certificate of destruction from the authorized treatment facility, this process becomes easier.

When everything else is going green, even car disposal is taking the same direction with the use of authorized treatment facilities. Actually such facilities make things easier for you as you don’t have to worry about what happens next if you are set on disposing the vehicle. All you want is the certificate and using such vehicle salvage companies means you care about your environment and are willing to preserve it.

Depending on the facility you take your car to, you can either be paid for it or give it free. There are those who accept cars free of charge only while there are those who pay the vehicle owners some little money. The price would normally depend on the condition of the vehicle among other factors. They can also offer to tow away your car especially if you are giving them for free. The best thing with authorized treatment facilities is that you can get scrap car parts for a variety of vehicle models at low prices.

Authorized treatment facilities have the equipment they need to recycle important car parts such as glasses and tyres and sell them to car owners. This also reduces waste materials on the earth surface. There are many of these companies in the UK all you have to do is contact the nearest to you to collect the vehicle.