Cars to What?
A Feature Presentation by Master Smore Maker: Kihwan Lee
What parts of the car can be recycled?
- tires
- windshield glass
- batteries
- steel and iron
- wheels
- radiators
- etc.
Every year in the U.S. alone, around 220 billion obsolete tires are generated, with a recycling rate of about 80 percent. Commonly, recycled tires are used in pavement bases to make new roadways. Recycled glass from autos are used to create tile flooring, glass beads, porcelain, countertops, and jewelry. Recycling a ton glass can save around 10 gallons of oil from getting used in production of new glass. Auto batteries are recycled to produce new ones. Steel and iron from junk cars are normally used to produce many different products.
How does it work?
Detailed inspection - repair and sell or dismantle and recycle
Draining fluids and dismantling valuable parts
Selling recovered auto parts
Crushing and shredding vehicles
Detailed Inspection
First of all, a car recycling facility inspects the junk car to check whether or not the car is more valuable to repair. If the probable resale price after repair is more than initial purchasing price plus estimated repairing cost, then the car is repaired for sale. So, if the repairing looks unprofitable, the recycling facility then proceeds with dismantling and recycling.
Draining Fluids and Dismantling Valuable Parts
As part of the car recycling process, the recycling facility drains different fluids such as oil, gas, antifreeze, transmission and brake lubricants and fluids. The fluids that are considered hazardous are carefully stored and accumulated for safe disposal. And the fluids such as gas and oil are filtered and reused.
Selling Recovered Auto Parts
Some car parts are reusable 'as is' to repair other cars, while other parts can be sold to auto part remanufacturers to refurbish. The recycling facility may sell these parts through a dedicated used part sales component of their business, or alternately sell them to local repair operations.
Crushing and Shredding Vehicles
Once all the recyclable car parts except metals such as iron and steel are sorted out and stored or sold, the only thing that remains is car body which includes different metals. The car body is then crushed and shredded to reduce into a golf ball sized metal chunk.
Works Citied
- "E-Waste: Is Our World Becoming like WALL-E's?" Nextworth Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- "Car Recycling - HowStuffWorks." HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- "How Does a Junked Car Get Recycled? - Earth911.com." Earth911com. N.p., 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- LeBlanc, Rick. "How Are Cars Recycled?" N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- "Recyclable Cars." Popular Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.