The imminent introduction of the European Directive relating to the recovery and recycling of two million end-of-life vehicles per annum has resulted in significant developments and changes within the UK vehicles recovery chain. The economic ramifications of this conformance have left many end-of-life stakeholders in a uniquely different market, based on contract negotiations, investment, and very challenging targets. The archaic and reactive nature of the recovery industry has meant that the demands of being part of the extended enterprice have never been present, and as such waste reduction and value improvement have never been major industry concerns. With th introduction of this legislation comes an increased need for the recovery chain to understand the economics of its own operations, to better support any investment or processing decisions within the new market. This paper provides and overview to the stakeholders and their rlelationships within th UK recovery chain, and discusses the development of an end-of-life vehicle costing framework based on the current direct and indirect costs and revenues affecting vehicles retirement, to facilitate increased value recovery to an array of end-of-life operators. Each of the costing techniques adopted or developed within the framework are then further discussed, before the intended industrial applications of the framework is highlighted.