Category: Auto Recycling

Recycling a vehicle is the best way to prevent its components and engine fluids from ending up in a landfill, where they contribute to water and soil pollution. If you have an old vehicle that you no longer need, you have several options for recycling the car. You can sell it to a junkyard, liquidate it to an auto dealership, donate it to an auto recycling business, or use it for spare parts. If you need help deciding which option to choose, below is a general overview of each one.

Sell to a Junkyard

Many people prefer to sell an old vehicle to a junkyard that participates in auto recycling. In addition to ensuring that the vehicle is recycled, selling it to a junkyard that participates in recycling yields a lump sum, cash payment for the car. If you are in the market for a new vehicle, sell your old one to a junkyard and put the money toward a down payment on a new set of wheels.

Sell to a Dealership

Recycling a vehicle by selling it to a dealership is another way to earn money from your car while keeping it out of a landfill. While the vehicle isn’t technically recycled, it is sold to another party, who uses it as a mode of transportation. Unlike junkyards that accept salvage vehicles, dealerships typically only accept drivable vehicles. So, your car must be operational to sell it.

Donate to a Recycler

When recycling a vehicle, you also have the option of donating the automobile directly to a recycler. Some recyclers require cars to already be stripped down when they are donated. If you don’t mind removing non-recyclable materials from your vehicle, such as carpeting and non-recyclable plastics, donating your car to a recycler is a great way to curb landfill use.

Use for Spare Parts

If you’re a gearhead who enjoys building engines and customizing automobiles, keeping your old vehicle may be a more enticing option than getting rid of it. However, if there comes a time when you feel like parting with the car, be sure to consider the options above, particularly selling to a junkyard that recycles automobiles, an option that earns you money while curbing landfill use.

Contact Us Today

Wrench-A-Part is a professionally operated junkyard that participates in auto recycling. If you have a salvage car or a drivable, used car that you would like to recycle, you can donate the vehicle to us, or sell it to us for a cash payment. For more information about our inventory and services, call our location in Austin, Belton, or Lubbock today, or use our contact form.

When a car becomes old and unreliable, it may feel like it belongs in a junk heap, but before you deliver a junker to a landfill, take some time to consider the advantages of selling it to a junkyard that performs auto recycling. Below are some of the key benefits consumers receive when they sell junkers to salvage lots that perform recycling instead of sending the cars to landfills.

Get Paid for the Vehicle

Selling your car to a junkyard is likely to net you hundreds of dollars, so there is no reason to give the vehicle to a landfill for free. Junkyards are literally interested in buying all types of automobiles, from new domestic vehicles to old foreign vehicles and everything in between.

Free Towing Services

After the junkyard purchases your vehicle, it will tow it back to the salvage lot for free. If you have your car towed to a landfill, you are likely pay hundreds of dollars in towing fees. Selling to a junkyard can put money in your pocket; it can also prevent you from spending money.

Reduced Landfill Use

Junkyards that perform recycling play a significant role in reducing landfill use. Currently, 75% of the material from salvage cars is recyclable, and technologies are developing that will help recycle the remaining 30% of the automobiles that is combusted or delivered to a landfill.

Healthier Natural Environment

By decreasing landfill use, auto recycling inevitably benefits the natural environment. First, no residues from the engine make their way into water and soil. Second, no residues from the engine are in a position where they could cause a fire — a common occurrence at landfills.

Contact Us Today

If you have a junk car on your hands, call Wrench-A-Part and let us offer to buy it. If we decide to purchase the car, we will pay you in cash, and tow it for free. When the vehicle arrives at our lot, people will purchase its parts secondhand, then the leftover metal will be recycled instead of sent to a landfill. To learn more about our auto recycling services, call one of our locations today.

For years, the principles of the green movement failed to penetrate the junkyard industry. Until recently, junkyards were used to handling junk vehicles in a way that wasn’t eco friendly: they sold usable car components, then sell the leftover metal to a scrapyard. Some of the metal was recycled, but some of it ended up in a landfills, too. Scrap metal that had to be separated from non-metallic material to be recycled (e.g., cabin and trunk linings), were often sent to landfills.

Effects of Auto Recycling

Today, the emphasis on auto recycling as an official business practice has led to recycling practically every metal part from a vehicle after a junkyard sells the usable components. The current focus on recycling has produced some compelling statistics that show just how efficacious auto recycling can be for preserving the environment. The following statistics come from a recent auto recycling study that the United Recyclers Group (URG) performed.

• Each year, recycling steel fenders saves over 8 millions tons of raw materials (e.g., iron and coal) that would be used to produce fenders from scratch. Recycling fenders helps preserve natural resources and reduce carbon emissions by limiting the burning of coal.

• Recycling all aluminum wheels would save over 1.7 billion kilowatt hours of energy that would be used to produce new aluminum wheels from virgin aluminum. Recycling all aluminum wheels would preserve natural resources and help reduce carbon emissions.

• Auto recycling results in the recycling of 24 million gallons of motor oil a year. When motor oil is not recycled, it often makes its way to the dumping ground of a landfill. From there, it can seep into the soil and be carried by rain into rivers, lakes, and streams.

The statistics above show the benefits that auto recycling holds for the environment. However, the process is not yet perfect. About 25 percent of the weight of each salvage car still makes it to a landfill. Glass, plastic, and rubber are the most common automotive materials that are placed in landfills. Because each of these materials can be recycled, new recycling programs should be developed to keep all materials from salvage cars from being dumped in landfills.

Need to recycle a vehicle?

If so, Wrench-A-Part is the junkyard to call. We pay competitive prices for junk cars and accept donated vehicles for our recycling program. When it comes to recycling, our goal is to keep as many auto components as possible out of to landfills. Those who sell or donate their vehicles to us play a crucial role in helping us meet our goal. To learn more about our recycling program and other services, call one of our locations in Austin, Belton, or Lubbock, or use our contact form.

As the green movement continues to gain momentum, more auto manufacturers are refining their operations to produce less landfill waste. General Motors (GM) is one of these manufacturers. Today, 97 percent of the waste GM produces from manufacturing process is recycled, and the remaining three percent is converted into usable energy. Waste products GM recycles instead of sending to a landfill include scrap metal, paint sludge, and various types of shipping materials.

The Larger Auto Industry

Because companies like GM produce a significant amount of waste material, they typically receive the most attention when they find a way to recycle the waste. However, there are also smaller companies within the larger auto industry that make a positive impact when it comes to recycling automotive waste material. For example, junkyards such as Wrench-A-Part recycle old automobiles, with the goal of reducing landfill use and preserving the environment.

Selling Used Parts

The primary way junkyards prevent landfill use is selling used auto parts. Engine parts, body parts, and tire and brake parts are examples of components that can be sold and reused. In addition to benefitting the environment, reselling the components helps people save money.

Selling Scrap Metal

After a junk vehicle has been picked clean of usable parts, the remaining scrap metal can be sold to metal refineries or auto recycling companies. Instead of being covered up in a landfill, old car frames can be compacted, melted down, and used to create frames for new automobiles.

Eco Friendly Disposal

Leftover non-metal materials such as rubber engine tubing, seat upholstery, and plastic components in the cabin can be combusted to produce energy, as long as the combustion does not exceed emissions caps the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established.

Contact Us Today

If you would like to sell or donate a junk car to a salvage lot that performs auto recycling, contact Wrench-A-Part. We are committed to disposing of car components and materials in a way that prevents landfill use and helps to preserve the environment. Just because your vehicle is “junk” does not mean it has to end up in a landfill. For more information about our auto recycling program, call our location in Austin, Belton, or Lubbock, or click here to use our contact form.

Have you ever wondered what happens to cars that aren’t recycled? Unlike food and drink containers, vehicles can’t be thrown in a recycling bin and sent to a facility where they become new products. Instead, they must be sold or donated to a junkyard that sells their used components, and then liquidates the leftover scrap metal to a business that recycles it, or processes it and sells it to a recycler.

If you sell or donate your car to a junkyard that doesn’t participate in auto recycling, used parts from the vehicle may still be sold. However, the leftover frame, body, and engine parts are likely sit in the junkyard until it they are removed to make room for more vehicles. In some cases, the leftover metal is removed to a landfill, where it is gradually covered up with other detritus. This can create serious problems for the environment, problems that auto recycling helps prevent.

Soil Pollution

Old cars have accumulations of grease and oil inside the engine compartment that enter the soil when they are compacted and buried. Removing the engine lowers the threat. However, unless the engine compartment is cleaned with eco friendly degreaser, it can still contain substantial amounts of grease and oil. When landfills fill up and are covered over, these substances in the soil can make it difficult for plants and trees to thrive.

Water Pollution

After substances from the engine compartment enter in the soil, rainfall washes a percentage of the accumulation into natural bodies of water, where it damages aquatic habitats. Streams and ponds around landfills often test high for toxic substances. Engine fluids that permeate landfill soil and are transported into these water bodies by rain is one reason why.

Air Pollution

Putting materials from old vehicles in a landfill indirectly pollutes the air. At big landfills, bulldozers and backhoes reposition and bury junk to make room for additional waste. As they operate, these machines emit toxic exhaust fumes that fill the air. A landfill may also burn combustible materials to create more room, a practice that can also cause toxic fumes to enter the air.

Need to get rid of an old car?

If so, sell it Wrench-A-Part. We will sell the good parts on your car, and then sell the scrap metal to a business that works with recyclers. Our auto recycling program profits both our customers and the environment. To find out how much your automobile is worth, contact our location in Austin, Belton, or Lubbock today.