Greening the supply chain? The impact of take-back regulation on the UK automotive sector

Over the past decade an important body of work has noted several factors determining the ability of a firm to ‘green’ or account for ecological factors within its supply chain, most notably the willingness of a focal firm to engage in collaboration with its suppliers. Limited research has, however, focused exclusively on the impact of regulatory instruments to achieve this. Since 1 January 2006, EU End of Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive has demanded that all automobiles manufactured in the EU for domestic use have a recyclable content of 85 per cent (moving to 95 per cent by 2015), so that each can be reclaimed, dismantled and recycled at the end of its useful life. This has the effect of forcing automotive OEMs to green their supply chain as they must ensure that all component and sub-assembly manufacturers alter or redesign their products to comply with the regulation. Qualitative research undertaken with 38 automotive component manufacturers in the UK is utilized to examine the impact of the EU ELV Directive and its ability to instigate greener supply chain practices within such firms. It is found that pressure to comply with the EU ELV Directive alone was insufficient to encourage greening. Instead, factors witnessed within existing research, particularly customer–supplier collaboration, were necessary for greener practices to be adopted.