Inside the Life of a Scrapped Auto

Many people do not know that automobiles are one of today’s most recycled commodities.

• Steel and iron make up about 65 percent of the average vehicle, and are extremely valuable.
• Each year, the steel industry recycles more than 14 million tons of steel from end-of-life vehicles.
• Several other metals and materials from cars may also be recycled.

So let’s follow the life of a scrapped car to see how the individual parts are recycled or properly disposed.

The first step is for you, the consumer, to take the vehicle to a business where it can be scrapped. Use Earth 911 to find out where you can recycle your car. A local charitable organization may haul away your junker for free to be recycled. If you go this route, make sure to research the organization to ensure your donation is tax-deductible.

Once the deceased auto arrives at a scrap metal company, there are three stages to the recycling process. They may take place in one or several locations, depending on the facilities.

Stage One—Drainage & Removal

All fluids in the vehicle must be properly drained to avoid groundwater contamination. The average volume of operating fluids in a car is approximately 19 liters. Think of all the fluids that must be drained:

• Engine oil
• Coolant
• Transmission oil
• Windshield fluid
• Steering gear oil
• Fuel

Dangerous chemical items such as batteries are also removed and recycled.

Stage Two—Part Reuse

Many parts of the car can be reused. They are dismantled, reconditioned and sold. This helps decrease the need to manufacture new parts. Reusables include: whole front and back ends, body panels, wheels, windows and windshields.

Stage Three—Material Recovery

Once all the fluids and reusable items are out of the vehicle, the car is crushed. The now flattened material is shredded by a special machine that tears it up into small handfuls of metal. The shredding process rips up a car in 45 seconds, and generates three streams: iron and aluminum and fluff.

The iron and steel are magnetically separated from the other materials and recycled. The non-metallic components, which are known as Auto Shredder Residue (ASR) or fluff, are sent to a landfill. ASR includes plastics, rubber, glass, wood products, cloth, paper, foam, dirt and electrical wiring.

The scrap metal business is booming and constantly growing. Some of the biggest customers of recycled steel include countries such as China and India. So a good portion of your old junker just might end up on the other side of the world making a new useful product.