CAR AND TRUCK RECYCLING: WHAT IT IS, WHY IT'S BENEFICIAL AND HOW IT WORKS

Posted on March 07, 2018

Scrap Your Vehicle

In February, Metro Recycling launched a customer service that provides locals the opportunity to have their scrap car or truck picked up. 

Having this additional service gives the customer the chance to remove unwanted cars and trucks without the hassle and safety risks of transporting a car or truck to recycling facilities.

Approximately 12-15 million cars and trucks reach the end of their useful lives each year.

These cars and trucks have one last stop before being reused! Recycled cars and trucks are a valuable source for spare parts. These facilities are known salvage yards, scrap yards, auto dismantling yards, and auto recyclers, just to name a few!  In this blog, we will discuss what car and truck recycling is, what the benefits are, and a brief overview of the process.     

WHAT IS CAR AND TRUCK RECYCLING?

Car and truck recycling is dismantling a car or truck at the end of its life for spare parts. Cars are the number one recycled product in the United States, making car and truck dismantling the 16th largest industry in the United States, contributing over 20 million into the GDP.

CAR AND TRUCK RECYCLING BENEFITS

The benefits of car and truck recycling are important to maintain a sustainable environment and ecosystem. Recycling steel uses 74% less energy and saves enough energy to power over 17 million homes annually. Recyclers like Metro Recycling and Metro Auto Recyclers save over 80 million barrels of oil each year and aid in contributing to keeping steel and nonferrous metals out of landfills.

CAR AND TRUCK DISMANTLING PROCESS

1. The process of dismantling a car or truck is exceptionally complicated. We will discuss a brief overview, and in our next blog, Metro Recycling will dive into greater details!

2. Consumers can bring us their cars or trucks or they can call 855-97-SCRAP or visit mycarisjunk.com to arrange a tow.

3. The “new” car or truck is inventoried for parts. 

4. Our team of dismantlers removes tires, wheels, batteries, and catalytic converters.

5. The fluids are properly drained and placed into environmentally safe containers. These fluids include air conditioning refrigerant, engine coolant, gasoline, oil, mercury switches, and transmission fluid.

6. Car and truck parts that can be reused are then removed and placed into storage. These parts include everything from bumpers, to transmissions, to engines, to mirrors and more. These are labeled as Used Original Equipment Manufacturer or OEM. Interested in a part? 

7. The remainder of the car or truck is placed into a yard, where it sits for an allotted period of time. During this period of time, parts are occasionally pulled from the vehicle when needed.

8. When the car or truck is no longer needed, it is stripped of residual valuable parts. This could be anything from wiring harnesses, to stalled engines, heater cores, transmissions, and so forth.

9. The final shell is crushed flat.

10. The flattened cars and trucks are transporting in bulk to an industrial shredder or hammer mill. This reduces the car or truck to shreds.

11. These shreds are sent to a mill to be melted down and reused!

Steel has an infinite lifecycle, 25% of a new vehicle is made from recycled steel!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more!