Recycling My Car in Vancouver

When a vehicle reaches the end of its lifecycle, more often than not, it gets recycled. Consumers do this through various forms. Sometimes, they drop their vehicle off to a local recycling facility themselves. Other times, they have a scrapyard come pick it up. However, most of the time, they use a professional car recycling and scrap car removal service, such as More Cash For Scrap.

When you choose a reliable and licensed scrap car removal service in Vancouver, you’re choosing to make sure your vehicle is recycled responsibly. There are many different fluids and chemicals in a car that need to be disposed of safely when you’re scrapping a vehicle. Using a professional ensures you’re disposing of the harmful chemicals in an ethical and responsible way.

What Happens to My Car After I Recycle It?

There are several steps involved with recycling a vehicle. Below is a breakdown of what those steps are, and why they are such an important part of disposing of a car.

1.Depollution

First and foremost, when you recycle any vehicle, you have to make sure that it goes through a proper depollution process. Now, you’re probably asking, what is depollution?

Depollution is the method in which they remove all harmful chemicals, fluids, and corrosive substances from a vehicle. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Batteries
• Antifreeze
• Coolant
• Engine Oil
• Washer Fluid
• Fuel or Diesel

These substances, if not disposed of properly, can cause all kinds of issues for humans, animals, and even plant life. When they get into lakes, streams, rivers, and even roadside ditches, it compromises the ecosystem, putting everyone at risk. Especially if it gets into drinking water for humans or animals. Items like batteries contain lead which is corrosive and toxic as well.

After the fluids have been drained from the vehicle, the vehicle is then flushed thoroughly to ensure that no remaining chemicals are left behind. That way, when the car heads to its next process or recycling, it can be done so in the safest way possible for everyone.

2.Dismantling

After your vehicle has been through the depollution process, it’s on to the next step of dismantling it. This is a crucial step as well, because this is where the vehicle dismantler determines what will be reused or recycled, and what will end up in the landfill. Generally, only 15%-25% of a vehicle ends up in the local landfills. This makes vehicles the most recycled product in the world. More of your scrap car ends up reused and repurposed than what’s not. However, if it’s not dismantled properly, it could send perfectly good parts to the landfill.

That’s why it’s imperative that a professional, like our friends at North Star Metal Recycling dismantled a vehicle when it gets sent to recycling. They will utilize their expertise to ensure that all reusable parts and components get taken off the vehicle before it’s sent to its next step.

3.Destruction

After a vehicle has gone through depollution and dismantling, what remains is then sent for final destruction. The first step in this process is the removal of tin. Vehicles have a thin layer of tin over top of the steel to help prevent them from rusting. Before the vehicle is sent to the crusher, this layer is removed.

Next, the vehicle is crushed, typically alongside several others as well. Once the junkyard has a good pile of crushed steel, it is then sent to its next step; melting.

The melting process is the final step in the destruction of any vehicle. The steel is melted down in a furnace, and then poured into casters where it gets rolled out into steel sheets. This is also known as sheet metal. These sheets are used in construction for creating rebar, the creation of new vehicles, and many other purposeful uses.

What Parts Get Recycled When You Send a Car to the Scrapyard?

Scrap vehicles are the most recycled product in the world. By this we mean that more of this product is actually recycled, than it is sent to the landfill. No other item in the world gets more care and attention when it comes to utilizing recyclable parts.

Batteries:

Batteries are a very important item that gets recycled from vehicles. Why?

Because a lot of them contain lead. Lead-acid batteries can be very harmful to the environment and to humans if not disposed of properly.

However, most of the battery itself gets recycled. In fact, 95% of all car batteries are recycled, while only 5% of the battery end up in the garbage or incinerator.

Tires:

On average, about 250-300 million car tires are sent to the scrapyard per year. That’s an astonishing number! Thankfully, roughly 85% of that number gets recycled. From pavements to playgrounds, tires are repurposed in a dozen different ways. Not only that, some are even used to create new tires.

Of the 15% that isn’t recycled, at least half of that ends up becoming something else as well. People use tires to plant potatoes in their garden, or to house flower beds in community gardens. Farmers even use old tires to fence animal pens or create a play area for goats!

Catalytic Converters:

The recycling of catalytic converters is an essential part of recycling a car, because they contain several precious metals. Palladium, rhodium, and platinum are some of the metals they contain, and these metals get repurposed and reused in many pharmaceutical products, jewelry, and electronics. And much like tires, the old catalytic converters can be used to create new ones too.

Fluids:

We all hate getting oil changes. It seems like that 3-month mark creeps up on you more often than 3 months, doesn’t it? And it seems like such a waste when they drain your oil, only to put in more. However, did you know that the oil that gets drained from your car gets recycled too? Just as it does when you send a car to the scrapyard.

Old oil goes through a thorough refining process, which results in old oil that comes out squeaky clean, and can be reused as if it were new. Whatever isn’t recycled, gets combined with other fluids and chemicals to create things like alternative fuel sources.

What Parts Can’t Be Recycled on a Scrap Car?

There are certain parts of a vehicle that you might think would be an obviously recyclable. However, you may be wrong. Parts like vehicle windshields, and any glass in general, is something that can be complicated to be recycled. Many of the glass components of a car contain wiring, tinting, and coatings, which make it incredibly difficult to recycle it. The majority of glass from any scrap car is something that does, in fact, end up in our landfill.

Plastics and fabrics are another major item that cannot be recycled from a car. Despite the fact that many plastics are recyclable, vehicle plastic is an entirely different grade. Plus, they also contain many various adhesives and wiring too that makes recycling it far too laborious.

Selling a Scrap Car in Vancouver

If you have a scrap vehicle that you want to recycle, recycle it wish us! We pay MORE cash for scrap cars than any other junk car removal company in Metro Vancouver. Plus, we tow your vehicle away for free. No one will offer you MORE cash for your scrap vehicle than we will. We are licensed, professional, and reliable. That’s why we are the top paying scrap car buyer in Vancouver, BC.

Contact Us for an INSTANT Cash Offer!

Whether you’re recycling a car, truck, SUV, van, or bus, we’ll buy it and pick it up for free from anywhere in the Lower Mainland. Just give us the make, model, year, and condition of your vehicle. Then, our scrap car buyers will make you an instant cash offer. If you accept the offer, we’ll arrange a day and time to have your vehicle removed. It’s really that easy!

Contact us today to find out why we are Vancouver’s #1 scrap car removal company for nearly 20 years!