The primary goals of the automotive recycling
industry are to harvest automobile components
for reuse and to recycle the remaining valuable
materials into specification-grade commodities that
can be used in the manufacture of new basic
materials such as steel, aluminum, plastic, copper,
and brass. Auto recyclers remove parts such as engines,
transmissions, doors and bumpers for reuse
in ot
her vehicles. Other parts that can also be
remanufactured include starters, alternators and
water pumps. Batteries, catalytic converters, tires
and some plastics are removed and their materials
are recycled into new products. Fluids such as engine
oil, coolant, and gasoline are carefully managed to
prevent releases by storing them in double-walled
tanks and/or secondary containment prior to being
reused or recycled. Once dismantled, the vehicle is sent to a shredding
facility. These capital intensive plants are complex
material separation operations. The shredder
pulverizes the vehicle into fist-sized pieces of
materials, which are then sent by conveyors to
sophisticated separation technologies, including
magnetic separation, eddy current, laser and infrared systems. The metal recovered by these plants becomes raw material feedstock for steel mills, electric arc furnaces, aluminum and other nonferrous metal smelters to manufacture a variety of
products, including new vehicles. Through the recycling process, end-of-life vehicles (ELVs)
are recycled into new vehicles, old consumer products are
recycled into components of new vehicles, and parts of old
vehicles are recycled into new consumer products. Typically
vehicles in North America are composed of approximately
20% post-consumer recycled material by weight. Everything from old carpet to blue jeans may end up in your new vehicle
