Recycling of end-of-life vehicles at shredder plants, among well-managed metal recycling, ends up with huge amounts of waste residue, for which the complex recycling route is still missing. Automotive shredder residue (ASR) is often called light fraction, because after the separation of all the metal particles (by magnetic drum, eddy-current, pneumatic separator and multiple unites of sieving) it contains mostly non-metallic materials like plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textile, leather or glass. There is a small content of metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni), but is low and the value of other materials cannot cover the costs for multi-stage recycling of light fraction. However, the presence of heavy metals and their compounds (~ 5 wt %) is the reason why is the light fraction classified as a hazardous waste. The possibility to separate the metal-bearing part of a light fraction based on the granulometric differences in contained materials has been investigated. The system of test sieves was used for the granulometric separation and sample was divided into following granulometric classes + 50 mm, - 50 + 25 mm, - 25 + 15 mm, - 15 + 10 mm, - 10 + 0 mm. Material of the grain size < 10 mm was grinded down on a mortar grinder and sieved further to + 0.5 mm, - 0.5 + 0.315 mm, - 0.315 + 0 mm. The obtained fractions were subjected to chemical analysis for the content of Fe, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cr and the material recycling has been proposed. As for gaining both, metals and potential secondary fuel, method of sieving was compared with more complicated process consisting of sieves, magnetic separator, eddy-current separator and air separator.
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