Car Recycling Facts and Figures

It’s never fun to say goodbye to a car that’s been serving you faithfully for years – unless of course it’s become the very bane of your existence as of late. In any case, it’s inevitable that pretty much any car you drive – even the brand new stunner you’re in right now – will eventually find its way into the recycling system. It’s even possible that the car you’re driving now has one or two bits of a previous car of yours melted down and fused into it! There’s no way of finding out for sure, but it’s still interesting to ponder!

The reason a car should or must be recycled is the fact that more than 80% of all the materials in a car can indeed be recycled and put back into use. It’s a complicated and long-winded process, but one that’s not just worthwhile…but one the planet as a whole depends on.

So while you don’t need to know the full ins and outs of the recycling process, it’s nonetheless useful to bone up on a few essential facts and figures – just to put the whole thing into some kind of perspective.

For example:

1. Each and every year, vehicle recycling puts a total in excess of 25 million tons of materials back into circulation. Were it not for vehicle recycling, we’d have to find these 25 million tons of steel and other metals from other sources, putting a massive strain on both the planet and the industry.
2. In North America, car recycling is a truly gigantic industry – one of the country’s 20 biggest, in fact. Across the USA, there are more than 7,000 vehicle recycling plants and the industry as a whole employs no less than 100,000 permanent workers.
3. Cars have become the number-one product for recycling in the world today – it’s almost unheard of for anyone to get rid of a car in any way other than recycling it.
4. The total number of vehicles recycled in Europe on an annual basis goes well in excess of 8 million, producing more than enough recycled steel to build a further 6 million brand new cars.
5. Car recycling specialists play a huge role in the safe removal and disposal of harmful fluids from cars. In a single year, the quantity of fluids safely handled by recycling companies is about eight times that released in Exxon Valdez catastrophe.
6. One of the most recyclable parts of any car is the battery – 99% can be recycled and put back into use as something else.
7. The materials produced in the car tyre recycling process are often used not only for paving the roads, but also in the manufacture of footwear!
8. One of the newest forms of recycling is that of car window and windscreen recycling – nothing goes to waste!

Just a few examples, but more than enough to help you gain a pretty deep understanding of how important vehicle recycling is to the world today. It may go on behind the scenes, but it affects every last one of it in a big way.