The logistics of recycling automotive spare parts: a major environmental challenge

Approximately 2 million new vehicles are placed on the market each year. When they reach the end of their life—either because they have been involved in an accident that makes them unusable or because repairing them would be economically unreasonable—they are referred to as ELVs, or “end-of-life vehicles.” 1.2 million of these ELVs are processed each year in France at 1,700 centers and 60 shredding facilities. This processing, which includes decontamination and the extraction of spare parts for resale, represents a major environmental challenge. French legislation, through the 2020 AGEC law and the 2022 decree, rigorously governs ELV management. These texts aim to promote the circular economy by imposing strict standards for processing and recovering end-of-life vehicles.

Founded in 1962, the family-owned GPA Group operates three of the centers licensed to process ELVs. The first, which also houses the company’s headquarters, is located in Livron, in the Drôme department. Situated on a 24-hectare site, the building covers 17,000 m². A second center, acquired from a competitor in 2024, is located near Angers. A third was built in August 2025 in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, in the Oise department. This latest facility, covering 15,000 m², occupies a 10-hectare site.

The developments of recent years, with an increasingly dense nationwide network, reflect the Group’s growth. It now works with most insurance companies in France and reports revenue of €95 million. “With our 400 employees, we are the largest company in the sector,” says Lionel Daronnat, the Group’s operations director.

When an insurance company contacts GPA, the company is required to collect the vehicle within 24 to 48 hours. One of its 200 logistics partners then picks it up and stores it until one of the 37 trucks operated by GPA Transport, the Group’s subsidiary, comes to collect it. “This allows us to consolidate loads and thereby reduce the number of trucks on the roads,” explains Lionel Daronnat. When they arrive at one of the three sites, the trucks are unloaded and the vehicles are parked for at least 60 days, while insurance-related administrative procedures are completed. Upon arrival, every ELV is assigned a QR code, which not only makes it easier to locate on site but also ensures its traceability, as well as that of every part recovered from it. “When the vehicle arrives at our site, operators take 27 photographs of it from every angle, all accessible through the QR code assigned upon arrival,” explains Julien Morichon, operational site director at GPA’s Oise facility. “They enable us, in particular, to determine which operations can be carried out on our dismantling lines: recovering wheels, opening panels, the combination switch, the powertrain, and so on.”

Thirty percent of the vehicles received by GPA 60, for which refurbishment is considered economically unreasonable, are sometimes sold as is. The remaining 70% are dismantled to recover parts that can be resold through the website and call center. For the growing number of electric vehicles, the battery is first removed and placed in a secure “box,” while the remainder of the vehicle is processed and recycled like a conventional internal-combustion vehicle.

A mission-driven company since 2023, with the purpose of “recycling mobility into a desirable and inclusive future,” GPA designs its centers to achieve as much energy self-sufficiency as possible. Vehicles awaiting dismantling are stored in a parking area also equipped with five-level cantilever racks, allowing up to three times as many to be stored. The roofs of these racks for long and bulky products are covered with photovoltaic panels, over an area of up to 4 hectares at the Livron site. They also collect rainwater, which is stored in an 80 m³ tank. At the Drôme site, a wind turbine has also been installed for self-consumption, as have some of the photovoltaic panels.

“These facilities allow us to power part of our operations with electricity we produce ourselves, and we also use rainwater for restrooms and for cleaning vehicles and their spare parts,” says Julien Morichon. “We are also self-sufficient in fuel, as we use the fuel recovered during the ELV decontamination stage for our outdoor internal-combustion forklifts.” For Johan Renaud, director of the GPA Group, beyond fulfilling the company’s purpose, it is also about “inspiring other industrial companies,” showing that it can be done.

In 2025, GPA received and processed more than 37,000 ELVs, a volume expected to more than double in the coming years. Every day, it ships more than 2,200 parcels—some containing several spare parts—to professionals (70%) and private individuals (30%). “A used GPA part brings together many benefits and is a genuine sustainable-development product,” says Johan Renaud. “Environmentally, reusing it avoids producing a new part, thereby preserving natural resources and reducing CO2 emissions—especially since we do so under the most sustainable conditions possible. Economically, it is 50% to 90% cheaper than a new manufacturer part and comes with a two-year warranty. Socially, it is produced in France.”