Automotive Parts

The vehicle that you are driving today will be a source of numerous recyclable materials tomorrow. Vehicle parts offer recycling opportunities for materials such as steel, aluminum, plastics, antifreeze, and batteries, as well as whole parts such as tires, seats, engines, and alternators.

Just the Facts

* Each year, nearly all of the 27 million cars around the world that reach the end of their useful life are recovered for recycling.
* Automotive recyclers now can recover nearly 80 percent of the total materials by weight from a vehicle, according to the United States Council on Automotive Research (USCAR) Exit EPA Disclaimer, an organization of auto manufacturers that work together on shared technological and environmental concerns.
* The remaining 20 percent of vehicle materials that cannot be recycled is called auto shredder residue (ASR). ASR includes plastics, rubber, wood, paper, fabric, glass, sand, dirt, and ferrous and nonferrous metal pieces.
* Five million tons of ASR are disposed of in landfills each year.
* Consumers purchasing used or reconditioned parts save 50 percent or more compared to the cost of purchasing new parts.
* More than 25 million tons of materials are recycled from vehicles each year. Automotive recycling is generally calculated separately from the MSW recycling rate.
* Nearly 90 percent of automotive aluminum is recovered and recycled. Although this aluminum represents less than 10 percent of the average motor vehicle by weight, it accounts for roughly half of the vehicle's value as scrap.
* Auto recyclers supply more than one-third of all ferrous scrap (iron and steel) to the U.S. scrap processing industry. When manufacturers use scrap iron and steel instead of virgin ore, they reduce air and water pollution by more than half during the manufacturing process.