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WHERE DO OLD CARS GO?
Recycling cars yields raw materials for new vehicles and other consumer products.
While you may think recycling is mainly for plastic
bottles and newspapers, cars are actually the world’s
most recycled consumer product. A whopping 95
percent of each year’s retired vehicles are recycled. In the US, that breaks down to 26 autos every minute.
Consider these auto recycling facts:
- At least 84 percent of each auto is recycled, including
floor mats, plastics, upholstery and carpet. New tires
contain 10 percent recycled rubber; and in 2004 alone,
the industry recycled 14.5 million tons of steel.
- New vehicles also use many other recycled materials,
including plastic milk jugs turned into trim, carpet
used as sound-deadening materials, and fabric processed
into insulation.
- Auto recycling annually saves about 85 million barrels
of oil, which would have been used to manufacture
new or replacements parts.
- An Auto recycler is a clean, computerized operation
that follow stringent government regulations.
- Recyclers help preserve natural resources, cut pollution,
reduce demand on landfills, and lower insurance cost.That’s because insurers write off fewer damaged vehicles as complete losses.
The recycling process involves:
- Removing all fluids – oil, gas, transmission, brake, etc. – batteries, mercury switches and air bags.
- Removing standard reusable parts, which are tested, cleaned, rebuild, bar-coded and entered on a computer.
- Removing specific parts in response to requests from auto repair operations, collectors and the public.
When the good parts have been salvaged, tires and gas tanks are removed and the vehicles are crushed and trucked to facilities for shredding.
Shredders with hammers break crushed cars into baseball-sized pieces called “frag”. This is sorted by metal type, then melted and mixed with new metals and sold to other companies for re-use. The residue, called “fluff”, is put into a lnadfill because no recycling schemes have yet proven feasible.
As for fluids and tires:
- Fluids: Most auto recyclers burn oil and grease for heat. If not, oil recyclers buy the product and sell it to industrial plants for fuel.
- Tires: Government have mandated quicker tire recycling to limit fires and insect breeding sites, so auto recyclers pay tire recyclers to take old tires. The rubber becomes supplemental fuel to power plants or is sold to make other products. The steel belts are put in landfill.
Donate your car and we'll tow it to an auto recycler
near you!
- Free Towing Nationwide to an auto recycling center.
- Get a Free 3 day 2 night hotel voucher
- Receive a tax deductible receipt
Click
here to donate your car now!
Donated cars are towed to auto recycling centers in:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts , Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. |
