Recycling of vehicles: how is the process that begins in the scrapping?

Probably, if you think of a junkyard, you imagine a facility with large accumulations of very messy and broken car parts, something similar to a landfill that simply accumulates garbage. However, the operation of the scrapyards has evolved in order to adapt to the requirements of management and environmental care and the facilities now, more than ever, make it possible to recycle a vehicle. The process that begins in the scrapping for the recycling of vehicles is the following:

1. When the owner of a vehicle decides that the time has come to permanently cancel it in Traffic, they will have to deposit it in an Authorized Treatment Center (CAT) , commonly known as scrapping. This is the first step in the vehicle recycling chain and, through them, the recovery, reuse and, therefore, the recycling of these is possible.
2. When out-of-use vehicles arrive at scrapping, the vehicle is decontaminated .
3. Components that can be reused through disassembly, storage and marketing are also removed . Many of these parts are thoroughly reviewed and tested to later be sold as scrap parts, with their corresponding warranty.
4. On the other hand, in this plant the parts are categorized so that they are recycled according to their origin, so that later, when passing to the shredding facilities, the vehicles can be divided. In this way, from scrapping, the recycling process of vehicles begins after the end of their useful life.

This process is included in the manual of good environmental practices in the management of vehicles at the end of their useful life , since these cars are considered hazardous waste and it is necessary to issue a certificate of destruction to properly manage their treatment.

In addition to the Authorized Vehicle Treatment Center, two fundamental facilities are also part of the chain: fragmentation and post-fragmentation facilities.

Shredding facilities

This is where the vehicles that have previously gone through the decontamination process and the disassembly process carried out by the CAT are received. In these facilities, a selection is made and the parts that make up end-of-life vehicles are separated, classifying them in ferric or non-ferric origin, and the recovery process of the same begins.

Post-fragmentation facilities

Post-shredding facilities are the last point in the recycling chain. This is where the fractions previously produced in the shredding facilities arrive so that the waste is processed by recycling or by energy recovery, always depending on their characteristics.

Did you know that up to 95% of the elements that make up a vehicle can be recycled or reused? Vehicle recycling is a reality and is a perfect method for materials that may still have a useful life to be treated as waste, avoiding the unnecessary exploitation of natural resources .

Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness about this process and highlight the importance of recycling in any of its versions, from small products to products as large as cars or other vehicles. With the idea of ​​reusing parts that can be used as spare parts and identifying those materials that cannot obtain more lives, the recycling of vehicles was born through three fundamental organs: Authorized Centers for the Treatment of vehicles or scrap yards and the fragmentation and fragmentation facilities. post-fragmentation.

What are the environmental benefits of vehicle recycling? In addition to contributing to sustainability and caring for the environment, thanks to the decontamination process and the recycling of its components, we must emphasize that the generation of more garbage is avoided, reuse and recycling are encouraged, and the indiscriminate use of natural resources is stopped. . In addition, the massive abandonment of cars with no useful life on public roads is avoided, reducing the hazardous waste that they can give off, the garbage that can accumulate after abandonment or the parking space that they can occupy and, therefore, it contributes to making that cities and towns look much more cared for.