Auto Recycling Saves Resources and Saves you Money on Parts
Auto Recycling Saves Resources and Saves you Money on Parts
What should you do when your car is no longer operable? Maybe
you have had an unfortunate accident, or maybe you have been nursing
along your 20+ year old car and its last day has just simply arrived.
One popular option for disposing of your vehicle is to recycle
it. Auto recycling is one of the oldest recycling programs in
the world. People have been dismantling cars for decades and reusing
the various parts from them. Once everything is removed from the
shell, the car is crushed and the steel sent off for melting and
reuse.
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The first place an inoperable vehicle usually ends up is at the
auto dismantlers or salvage yard. Here the vehicles are sometimes
simply catalogued and stored. As they sit at the salvage yard,
the vehicles are stripped part by part by people looking for cheap
replacement parts for their own cars. A used part from a salvage
yard is generally about 50% cheaper than buying a new part from
the local automotive dealership. However, the actual price of
the part depends on how hard that part is to find on the open
market. A rarer part will obviously be more expensive. Some salvage yards dismantle the vehicles as they come in and
sell off the reusable parts.
Generally the first step in the dismantling process of auto recycling
is to drain the various fluids from the vehicle. This is a very
important step because most fluids in a vehicle are toxic to the
environment. Some of the drained fluids are able to be recycled
and others are not. Gasoline and brake fluids are resold while
power steering and windshield washing fluids are not.
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Depending on the type of salvage yard doing the auto recycling,
their operations may include dismantling the vehicle, draining
fluids from vehicles, crushing the shell of the vehicle, and sometimes
even shredding the metal of a vehicle. The metal which is crushed
or shredded is then sold as scrap to industrial metal recycling
plants. Plastics from the vehicles are either thrown in the landfill
or recycled whenever possible. All of the usable drained fluids,
parts, batteries and tires are either stored at the auto salvage
yard for resale, or properly disposed of.
Environmental contamination is a very real concern for auto recycling
businesses. There are many toxic substances contained within each
vehicle. The air, groundwater and soil can be contaminated during
fluid drainage and part removal. Improper storage of batteries
and fluids can also cause environmental problems. This is one
of the main reasons why vehicles are generally dismantled outdoors
and on paved surfaces where spills can be contained and cleaned
up. This also lessens the possibility of fires from flammable
liquids such as gasoline and break fluid.
Automobiles also contain other toxic substances such as asbestos,
lead and mercury. Proper handling of these substances is one key
to keeping them out of the landfill and out of the environment.
When you vehicle has reached the end of its life, know that it
can be recycled and its parts used in other vehicles. Auto recycling
has been around for decades and it is very easy to see why it
makes so much sense.
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