By Automotive Online on February 20, 2009 12:24 PM

  Over 10 million vehicles are dumped in salvage yards and scrap facilities each year. Of which about 82 percent of an average vehicle's weight gets recycled, paving the way for putting scrap to better use and saving the environment from unnecessary damage.

Car makers from the automobile industry are prudent seize the opportunity to manufacture recycled parts out of used car or motorcycle parts materials. However, today's automakers aren't quite satisfied with only 82 percent of a vehicle getting recycled, and they are constantly looking for ways to chip in to include more and more from the remaining 18 percent of the scrap. In addition they also try to increase the amount of End-of-Life material that finds its way into an automobile's production cycle.

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The Process of Automotive Recycling;

When it's sunset time for a vehicle, an average owner takes the vehicle to see it off at hundreds of junk yards, salvage yards or dismantlers spread across many developed countries including the U.S.

After dismantlers take over the abandoned pieces of metal they recycle 95 percent of these automobiles.

First off, the outer body parts amenable for reuse are stripped out viz. headlights, taillights, fenders, hood, doors, etc. Since the re-manufactured parts comprise about 85 percent of the original materials, the manufacturer are able to make the new parts at a cost that's about 50 percent less than making a completely new part.

Next, the dismantlers subject the vehicle through shredders, somewhat similar to a paper shredder, it breaks up the vehicle's material it into small pieces. In addition it separates the metallic parts (steel, iron, etc.) from other materials. Constituting over 75 percent of a vehicle, these metals are essential to the metal supply chain. While sometimes this material is mixed with virgin materials before being sent out to the manufacturers, at other times it is sent as it is, provided it meets the predefined industrial standards. Once they reach the auto makers they are labeled as chassis, automobile engines, sides, or as appropriate.

What remains after the shredder's done its job are materials such as plastic, rubber, glass, tires, automobile fluids, etc. Technically known as Automobile Shredder Residue or ASR, these items are hard to recycle. Even though plastics are increasingly being used in car making, car makers too have gotten cleverer and have devised ways to re-use some of this material.

Automotive Recycling and Its Benefits

Increasingly, vehicles are being designed after giving recycling a consideration and this has further help reduce the solid waste stream, made dismantling easier and cheaper. In the end further encouraging recycling.

Among the many benefits of automotive recycling some are the following:

• The manufactures save money by using scrap material in car making as it saves them the cost of manufacturing car parts anew.
  
• Recycling implies less mining for virgin material, which inturn prevents dust and waste gases such as sulfur dioxide from harming the environment.
  
• It saves landfill space.
  
• Recycling leads to less energy consumption needed for manufacturing. This leads to the conservation of oil, gas or coal reserves, and also reduces the release of CO2 gas into the atmosphere.

Some Examples of Thinking Recycle While Designing Autos

Volkswagen's (VW) Golf was designed after considering recycling. The company, in order to facilitate the car's recycling, replaced contaminating adhesives with clips and used standardized plastic materials. GM too has increasingly made use of clips as.

On similar lines the BMW Group makes instrument panels from standardized plastic that prevent degradation. During recycling these panels are re-molded into fresh instrument panels with a staggering 99.5 percent purity.

Many other automakers now incorporate recycle friendly designs into their products. Given the strides car makers have taken to help recycling of automobiles, it can be said that the practice will be a win-win for both the environment and car makers.