Recycling Your Old Vehicle Is Good For The Environment And Your Wallet

Even though you will likely get hundreds of thousands of miles from your car, at some point even the best vehicle will hit the end of its useful life and need disposal. The good news is that much of your old vehicle can be recycled into: 

  • raw steel
  • raw aluminum
  • used automotive parts

The metals contained within your car can be recycled in much the same way that you recycle your aluminum cans and glass bottles. In addition, the usable parts on your vehicle will be removed and stored by a local secondary market parts dealer. By calling around, you can contact all of your local junk yards and automotive salvage companies to find the best price to sell your scrap vehicle.

Here is some information on the process that your vehicle will undergo when you have it recycled:

Automotive Parts Salvaged

Before your vehicle is crushed or shredded, first all of its useful parts will be removed by a mechanic. Even very old and very worn out cars still have a lot of useful parts contained within them. Some of the most commonly removed for the secondary parts market include:

  • the motor
  • the transmission
  • the alternator
  • the starter

In addition, if the tires and rims are in good shape, they will be removed as well.

Automotive Body Recycled 

Once the vehicle's parts have been removed, then it will be placed into a crusher and then a shredder. The crusher will flatten the car and the shredder will shred it down into small pieces. Once shredded, magnets are used to remove the metals from the rest of the car's material, such as upholstery and plastics.

The metal is moved into dumpsters where it is then hauled off to be melted back into raw metals and reused in other applications.

Automotive Shredder Residue is Recycled 

The material left from the shredding and metal removal process is known as shredder residue. This material is recycled into many useful things, including:

  • plastic products
  • agricultural mulch
  • building insulation

It is the current goal of most countries to find ways to use automotive shredder waste and keep it out of landfills.

Conclusion

Recycling your old vehicle is good for your wallet and it is wonderful for the environment. Rather than let your unusable vehicles sit and rust in your yard, instead, you should have them recycled into used auto parts for other cars and metals to be used for new parts and other metal objects. Contact a local outlet, such as Four-Twenty-Two Auto Wrecking, for further assistance.


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