End-of-life vehicles should be properly disposed of with the help of regulated junk yards. Globally, about 27 million cars are recycled every year, and 12 million come from the United States alone. Scrap and junk yards reuse and recycle materials, diminishing waste and the cost of steel manufacturing, with 14 million tons of steel acquired from scrapped vehicles that are later recycled for the steel industry, reducing the need to produce metal from scratch, thus drastically decreasing its environmental impact.
Though the process of car junking may seem like it does nothing to contribute to diminishing environmental decline, vehicle recycling is an important practice to reduce the spillage of toxic waste. In this article, Mr. Junk Cars will touch upon the environmental benefits of car recycling and its impact on your carbon footprint.
Environmental Benefits
We’ve touched upon the careful process of car junking here. However, any environmentally conscious car owner should keep auto salvage and scrap yards in mind when their car reaches its end of usable life. Car junking is so much more than turning your car into a tightly crushed piece of carcass.
So how exactly does vehicle junking reduce your carbon footprint?
Steel Recycling
A typical four-door, five-passenger vehicle is made up of about 60-65% steel and iron. More often than not, this metal is reused to manufacture other cars; a brand-new vehicle is made up of about 25% recycled steel, which reduces the energy consumption of making brand-new metal by 74%.
Because of recycling practices like this, the steel industry saves enough energy to power millions of households and saves about 85 million barrels of oil a year. It also reduces the need to mine for new iron ore and diminishes the impact mining produces on the environment.
Reducing Toxic Waste
The parts that make up the intricate system inside your vehicle produce leaks and toxic waste that needs to be appropriately disposed of by someone who knows how the process works. Air conditioning units, batteries, brake lines, engines, fuel tanks, radiators, and transmissions all produce toxic liquids and oils that must be carefully handled and contained.
Junk yards usually spend a lot of money on accidental spillages, so disposing of hazardous waste is done with extreme care. Oils drained from different vehicle scraps can be reused in commercial oil recyclers and repurposed to eliminate noxious contamination.
Safe waste disposal also involves reducing lead battery contamination. The risk of contaminating the atmosphere with this toxic material harmful to humans is greatly diminished by containing lead-acid batteries. Lead-acid batteries must be used for their intended purpose and disposed of properly. State law prohibits them from being drained, broken, or disposed of in landfills.
Mercury switches and tires are also removed and salvaged. They can be reused and repurposed if they’re in good condition. If a tire cannot be repurposed, a junkyard will deliver them to waste tire recycling facilities.
Preventing Landfills
The trash contained and delivered in landfills eventually decomposes, releasing toxic greenhouse gasses and other harmful waste into our environment. By junking your car, you avoid damaging the environment by overfilling and encouraging the production of poisonous gasses that contaminate our atmosphere.
Be environmentally conscious!
Your carbon footprint is everything and when it comes to vehicle disposal, sending it to a scrap facility or junkyard is the best way to ensure you are not purposely polluting the environment around you. Junk car removal should be the norm when getting rid of a car that has reached its end of life. Nearly every part of your car can be recycled and disposed of properly. So, if you