The Impact of Auto Recycling on Landfill Use

For decades, consumers and businesses have known that landfills don’t do the environment any favors. Even the best managed landfill areas can still contribute to water pollution, soil contamination, and air pollution — negative effects that are only hastened by the placement of automobiles in landfills. If you have a junk car that you need to get rid of, selling it to a salvage lot that participates in auto recycling can positively impact landfill use in four important ways.

Fewer Fires at Landfill Sites

Underground fires at landfill sites are not uncommon. Because the junk holds air underground and decomposing materials form methane gas that gradually builds up, a fire can have enough oxygen and methane to burn for weeks. Adding to the flames can be engine fluids such as oil and gasoline. By keeping vehicles out of landfills, fires may be reduced or even prevented.

More Room for Non-Recyclables

Landfills are ideally places that should be filled with non-recyclable materials and not recyclable components such as engine parts and car frames. Keeping recyclables out of landfills helps reduce the need to develop more landfill property. Considering that vehicles are some of the largest objects to be placed in landfills, auto recycling can significantly increase landfill space.

Lower Presence of Toxic Liquids

Deep in many landfills is a stew of toxic residue that is comprised of engine oil, grease, and gasoline, among other residues. As gravity does its job, these liquids can gradually find their way into water bodies, soil, and air, where they cause pollution that affects the environment. The removal of automobiles from landfills can help reduce the presence of toxic liquids.

Easier to Move Landfill Detritus

Professionally maintained landfills need to have their junk shifted to make room for more detritus, find something in the landfill that police are searching for, separate certain types of materials from others, etc. Keeping automobiles out of landfills only makes it easier to move detritus from one area to another, helping landfills to carry out crucial operations more efficiently.

Contact Wrench-A-Part

Wrench-A-Part is a professionally operated salvage yard that serves the Austin, Belton, and Lubbock areas. If you have a junk vehicle you need to get rid of, let us see if we need it in our inventory. If we do, we will pay you a fair price for the vehicle, and then send it to an auto recycling facility after the usable parts from the automobile are sold. When you sell your junk vehicle to us, you can feel confident that none of its recyclable materials will end up in a landfill.

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