Old cars used to end up in landfills or be left to rust away on vacant land. That has changed dramatically over time. About 27 million vehicles are recycled globally each year and about 12 million of those come from the United States. In fact, vehicles are the most recycled objects in America.
Eighty-six percent of auto parts of recyclable. Junk vehicles provide 14 million tons of recycled steel every year. In fact, about 25% of each new car is made using recycled steel. Recycled tires are repurposed in many ways. They end up in mulch, in playground surfaces, and on running tracks. Tens of millions of barrels of oil are saved by recycling end-of-life vehicles, car parts, and car batteries. Gallons of liquids like oil, coolant, and windshield washer fluid are salvaged from vehicles. Automotive glass is reused and turned into a variety of items.
The European Union scraps about 6 million cars each year and increasingly stringent laws promote comprehensive recycling. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich are studying ways to accomplish some of the most challenging recycling of end-of-life vehicles. Once the steel, glass, tires, and liquids are salvaged, the remainder is typically sent to a shredder. The result is a mixture of metals, textiles, plastics, foams and composite materials.
Extracting recyclable plastic from these mixtures is complex, but regulations in the EU are pushing for new methods of accomplishing it. The Munich researchers are testing new shredding, screening, and sensing methodologies aimed at making some of society’s most recycled objects even more recyclable.
