Go back to 50 years before in a time when people were clueless what to do with an old damaged car. The entire junkyards were dedicated to vehicles that were no longer in use. But in this day and age, we know that more than 80% of vehicles can be recycled or used again. In fact, the item that is recycled the most in the US is cars. More than 12 million vehicles are recycled there per year. As for Europe, 8 million vehicles get recycled there each year.
We are equipped with the expertise and means to dispose of cars when they are no longer functional. So, how can cars be recycled? We have explained the car recycling process below. In order to buy used cars in Sharjah, CarSwitch is your go-to place.
Cutting pollution
The first step of car recycling is depollution. In this step, the fluids and engine are taken out to guarantee full disposal. If the various fluids are not removed from the vehicle, they will harm the environment.
These fluids consist of coolant, engine oil, brake fluid, gasoline and many more. Depollution allows vehicles to be safer so that a clean recycle can be done which is not degrading for the environment.
Breaking down
The second step is to dismantle the car to search for parts which can be used again. A normal car driver is unaware of the abundance of parts which can be dismantled and reused. For instance, the seats, engine, axles and stereo system all can be reused. Therefore, this step of the car recycling is important if you don’t want all these useful components to go to waste.
Crushing and pulling apart
After the reusable components are taken out, the rest of the vehicle is destroyed by crushing. This is done because we want the vehicle to occupy less space prior to going to the car shredder. The shredding process crushes the remaining vehicle into smaller, literally hand sized parts.
This shredding machine crushes the car to aluminum and scrap steel. These two components have the potential to be sold under the name of scrap metal.
In the present day, above 85% of the new steel in the US is built from recycled materials. This is why recycling is so important! Annually, 18 million tons of steel is melted in car recycling.
Resource recovery
Before directing the crushed vehicles to their respective automakers, other materials and scrap metal are blended in order to make the metal stronger. This stronger metal is then added to the new car frames.
At this stage, the crushed materials have to be divided into ferrous and non-ferrous metals. There are some parts of the vehicle which can not be recycled such as the auto shredder residue. These parts consist of wood, rubber, paper, plastic, dirt, glass and oftentimes dangerous substances like lead or cadmium.
This useless and non recyclable material is known as auto-fluff in the automotive industry and it consists of almost 15 to 20% of the car’s make-up. It is sent to the landfill. However, with the progressing time, latest and improved solutions are presented in order to separate auto shredder residue and waste from the other recyclable material.
Delivering to automaker
This is the last step of the car recycling process. In this step, the scrap metal is delivered to the automakers. This recycled stuff is utilized to create new car body frames and send new cars to parking lots.
This step allows automakers to keep the price lower because it costs them less to utilize the recycled materials instead of beginning from the scratch. But the advantage does not only restrict to the manufacturers. It also offers benefits to the people and the steel industry via lowered emissions.
Wrapping it up
Although the car recycling process needs complete equipment and awareness, recycling the burnt out cars assists the environment by cutting out the dangerous substances efficiently and reducing the emissions.
Adhering the complete car recycling process also reduces prices for the vehicle industry. But does the same effect pass down to the customer? It can not be made certain.
But at least the public is aware of the fact that using the old car components again and recycling is way better than discarding an old vehicle left to sit and rusting in the backyard of the house.
