How Wreckers Like Us Upcycle and Recycle Car Parts
We love what we do. It’s rewarding, honest work, and it helps keep the world a little cleaner by reducing junk. The more we recycle, the better it is for everyone. But what about you?
Maybe you’re curious about how we recycle cars and what happens to your damaged, unroadworthy, or rusted vehicles after we buy them. Or perhaps you want to know which car parts are the most valuable so you can sell them yourself. As we said, the more recycling, the better. The best way to turn your scrap unwanted car or its not working parts into cash is to sell it to cash for car perth company — like Rapid Cash For Cars WA.
In this quick guide, we’ll show you which car parts can be recycled into new components or used as raw materials for other purposes.
If you’re an experienced, skilled, and safety-conscious car mechanic, you might be able to remove some of the usable parts and sell them yourself before bringing the rest to a salvage yard. That could earn you a little extra cash. But remember, if you want to sell your scrap car quickly and get a fair price, let Rapid Cash For Cars WA make you an offer.
What Car Parts Can Be Recycled?
Tyres
Old car tyres can be recycled or repurposed in various ways. If they’re in decent shape, they can be sold to tyre businesses, which may market them as second-hand products.
If the tyres are too worn out to be used on the road, there are alternative options. Worn tyres can be shredded into crumb rubber, which has multiple industrial and manufacturing uses. For example, crumb rubber is often used for soft flooring in outdoor playgrounds, as a base for artificial turf, or as an additive in road asphalt.
Car Batteries
Similar to tyres, second-hand car batteries can be resold if they’re still in safe, working condition. If not, they can be dismantled for their valuable components.
There are different types of car batteries, including lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride, and lithium-ion, each requiring a specific and complex recycling process. Car battery recycling focuses on recovering materials such as:
- Lead
- Lithium
- Nickel
- Cobalt
- Plastic
- Sulfuric acid
Batteries from hybrid and electric vehicles can be more challenging to recycle. Although they contain valuable materials, the infrastructure for recycling them isn’t as well-developed as it is for conventional batteries. Still, as professional salvagers, it’s our duty to ensure they are properly recycled.
Catalytic Converters
Catalytic converters are among the most valuable components in car recycling. They reduce harmful emissions from your car’s exhaust through chemical reactions. These reactions take place as the exhaust passes through filters made from highly valuable metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium.
A working second-hand catalytic converter can be reused, but the metals inside are in high demand across various industries. Car recycling companies recover, refine, and recycle these metals to be used in new catalytic converters, jewelry, electronic components, and more.
Recycling these precious metals is far more environmentally friendly than mining for them.
Starters and Alternators
Second-hand starters and alternators are essential parts in almost every vehicle, which is why they’re always in high demand. The great thing about these parts is their durability, making them relatively easy to salvage.
Working starters and alternators can be refurbished or rebuilt by disassembling them, thoroughly cleaning the parts, replacing any worn components, and then reassembling them. Once restored, they can be sold in the second-hand market.
If they are too worn out or damaged to repair, they can still be salvaged for their raw materials, like copper, aluminum, and steel.
Electrical Components
Modern vehicles are full of valuable electrical components. If you know how to safely remove these parts, you can sell them individually. We aim to salvage:
- Radios and entertainment systems
- Speakers and sound systems
- Engine control units
- Dashboard video panels
- Rear-view cameras
- Small electric motors
- Sensors and relays
- Lights and light assemblies
- Air conditioning units
Motor Oil and Oil Filters
Cars that are scrapped usually haven’t had a recent oil change. However, even old engine oil can be reclaimed and reused.
Old motor oil contains contaminants like heavy metals, so the first step for recyclers is to test the oil for purity. The level of contamination determines how the oil will be recycled.
Recycling engine oil involves a complex process. The oil must first be dehydrated to remove water, then filtered and demineralized to eliminate heavy metals and toxins. After refining, it can be turned into new engine oil, industrial burner fuel, or other petroleum-based products.
Glass
Car windows and windshields are valuable to recyclers, but removing them without causing damage is tricky and usually requires a specialist.
Automotive glass is specially treated for safety. Windshields are made with shatterproof safety glass, which sandwiches a plastic layer between two layers of glass. Other car windows are made of tempered glass, which shatters into small, non-dangerous pieces instead of sharp shards.
If your vehicle’s windows and windshields are intact, they can be resold for second-hand use. If not, they can be sent to glass recyclers, who will separate the glass from the plastic layer and crush the glass into cullet (ground-up glass). This cullet can be used to make new glass products or mixed into asphalt for road construction.
Scrap Metal and Plastic
Once a car has been stripped down, the remaining materials are mostly scrap metal and plastic, which can be recycled.
Selling scrap metal and plastic isn’t just about selling old car parts. Professional salvagers break vehicles down into different materials: plastics, ferrous metals (like iron and steel), and non-ferrous metals (like aluminum, titanium, and nickel).
These materials are then shredded, sorted, melted, purified, and processed into new products, such as automotive parts and appliances.
How to Maximize Profits from Recycling Car Parts
As experienced recyclers, we know that effectively recycling and upcycling car parts involves selling these components to specialists who have the tools and systems in place to extract maximum value from the scrap.
If you have a wrecked or unwanted car, you might be able to remove and sell individual components yourself. However, this task can be time-consuming and must be done carefully to avoid injury and prevent damage to the parts.
