The process of car scrapping

The process of car scrapping

Have you ever wondered what happens to scrap cars?

After somebody sells their scrap car to a company that buys scrap cars, i.e. Scrap Car Removal Surrey , that car is then sent to a junk yard to be processed. Generally, a tow truck will pick up the car and take it directly to where it will be processed. This is where a $200 junk car can be torn apart to reveal upwards of $500 of parts, metal, and furnishings.

Once the car arrives at the scrapyard, it will be stripped down. This means that all the valuable parts are taken out to be sold on the second-hand market. Doors, fenders, bumpers, and exterior parts are usually taken off by hand, but engines are different. These require lots of time and specialization to take out of cars, and most junk yards process too many cars to dedicate so many resources. They will usually just rip them out of cars usually large claws as seen below.

After everything of value has been removed from the scrap car, it is time to crush it. These large operated vehicles/forklifts will carry the car to a compactor, which will turn the car to a cube. These cubes are stacked to save space, and shipped off on trucks.

According to an article on etf.com, your average car is made of about 2,400 lbs of steel, while trucks contains approximately 3000 lbs. There’s also approximately 300 pounds of aluminum in the average vehicle. The value of this metal fluctuates though, as the market demand grows/diminishes. There are also different grades of scrap metal. For example, an extremely rusty car will have low quality metal, whereas stainless steel will seem brand new.

After a buyer is found for the cubes of scrap metal, it gets sent to be re-purposed. Often it will be put back into new car materials. It is also common to see scrap car metal in household appliances, buildings, and even computers.

The entire process of metal scrapping has faced its environmental critiques though. Often unusable parts will end up in landfills, and emissions from scrap yards are rarely kept in check. What most people don’t realize though, is that the process of mining brand new metals is much more taxing on the earth. The environmental cost of setting up a mine, tearing apart the earth, processing, and finally shipping of the ores can dramatically be reduced by buying scrap metal from your local scrapyard.

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