Dealerships and workshops are to benefit from a new environmental manual for the dismantling of trucks, which details how precious metals such as platinum can be retrieved.

Volvo Trucks has published a new dismantling manual with instructions on how to dispose of its vehicles in the safest and most environmentally correct manner.

It provides detailed instructions on how the truck should best be dismantled and how to handle hazardous fluids, together with detailed specifications of the component materials and how they can be recycled, reused or scrapped in the optimum manner from an environmental aspect.

"The truck sector does not have producer responsibility in the same way as the car industry," said Lars Mårtensson, environmental director of Volvo Trucks.

"However, our aim is to provide good information to limit the lifetime environmental impact of our products and live up to our environmental responsibilities in this area."

He highlighted the need to recover certain rare materials, including platinum, which is used in particulate filters and mined in only one country, making its recovery especially important.

The company claims that 90 per cent by weight of a truck can be recycled because of its high metals content.

Volvo Trucks is aiming the manual at dealerships and other workshops in the UK which are involved in scrapping trucks.