When your vehicle comes to the end of its life, you have a few options open to you. While there has been an increase in efforts to keep old vehicles out of landfills, you can still dump your vehicle in many areas.
The problem with dumping vehicles into landfills is two-fold. First, only about 25% of a vehicle is non-recyclable. This means that you are wasting the other 75% by leaving it in a landfill. Second, when a junk vehicle is rained on in a land fill, the rainwater can carry heavy metal pollution through the soil and contaminate nearby ground water. This can easily be resolved by getting in touch with a certified recycling center.
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Many people opt to keep their junk vehicles on their property, either in hopes that the price of steel will increase or to salvage parts as they need them. While it is acceptable to keep a junk vehicle on your property, every effort should be made to drain the vehicle’s toxic fluids before they get a chance to leak into the environment.
Put simply, recycling your vehicle is the only way to ensure it is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.
How to Recycle Your Vehicle
If you choose to recycle your vehicle, you may be surprised at how easy it can be. In many areas, you will even receive cash for your vehicle based on the prices of its recyclable parts. You can find an authorized recycling center by conducting a quick search online or by checking your local yellow pages. Most centers will pick up your vehicle and tow it away at no cost to you, you can find out more information here.
The Benefits
By recycling your junk vehicle you do more than just protect your local environment. You also help contribute to the used parts industry. When you sell your vehicle to a recycling center, the first thing they do is strip any usable parts and sell them to junk yards at a very low price. This allows junk yards to sell these parts to people who desperately need reliable transportation but cannot afford new parts.
After they’ve stripped the parts, the recycling center will drain and dispose of all the hazardous materials that are found in cars. This includes engine fluids, the battery, and mercury. This process ensures that the hazardous materials found in junk vehicles never find their way into the environment.
Once all hazardous materials have been removed, the vehicle’s rubber, plastic, and metal are seperated and recycled. Recycling the metal from a vehicle not keeps the prices of metal products down, it also helps conserve energy. Recycled steel, for instance, requires about 75% less energy to produce than it takes to fabricate new steel. In fact, the recycling process, as a whole, saves an estimated 85 million barrels of oil every year.
When comparing the options, it quickly becomes apparent that there is only one correct way to dispose of a vehicle—recycling.
