There’s a common misconception when it comes to car recycling which assumes that a single brand or business alone takes the car, scraps it, crushes it, melts it and makes it into new stuff. In reality though this isn’t the case at all – car recycling is a hugely complicated process that demands the attention of dozens of specialist workers for each and every car processed.
You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s all an easy job given the way in which you yourself need only fill out an online form, but you’d also be wrong…very wrong! 
Step One – Appraisal and Removal
The first step in the process…after you’ve made the call that is…is to have the car itself appraised by way of value and removed from its resting place. This can be quite the task in its own right as the car may be immobile, located in a rather awkward place and have all manner of weird and wonderful elements to inspect prior to making a cash offer. As such, before anything can start up it takes specialist appraisal, removal and delivery experts to get the thing out of wherever it is safely and efficiently, without leaving a mess behind.
Step Two – Salvage of Parts
The next folks in line are those tasked with the job of going over the car with a fine-tooth comb and pulling out every last shred of it that could be reused or ideally sold-on. From the wheels to the tyres to the electronics to the windows and so on, anything that really isn’t as doomed as the rest of the car is extracted, catalogued and made ready to buy by other motorists. At the same time, the team also takes out everything that needs to be recycled in a different way – the engine’s oil and the battery, for example. The process can take hours or even longer for just a single car – it’s by no means a quick job!
Step Three – Shredding and Readying
Once there’s little left but a big metal husk, another team or individual steps in with the necessary know-how to either shred the car into bite-sized pieces, or lob it in the famed car-crusher. In either case, the whole point is to make the thing easier to transport to the eventual recycling plant.
Step Four – Separating
After what’s left of the car has been delivered to/collected by the recycling plant, it then becomes the responsibility of specialist workers to put all the materials through a separating process. This generally involves the use of high-powered magnets to pull the recyclable steel out of the mix and ensure nothing unwanted makes its way into the final recipe.
Step Five – Recycling!
Last but not least, the separated steel is then passed onto those responsible for melting the stuff down, processing it as required and summarily making it back into fully useable steel that’s 100% strong as first-run steel and infinitely more efficient. It can then be used to make anything and everything steel plays a role in, which incorporates pretty much everything you can see around you right now that contains even a trace of metal.
Quite the process, isn’t it?
