Car scrapping and recycling are concepts that have been around for decades, but for one reason or another only recently began emerging as big deals in the UK. As the population slowly but surely gets to grips with the importance of recycling and selling clapped-out old cars strides closer to impossible, it’s becoming something of the norm to send cars away for recycling when they reach the end of their useful life.
When it comes to the scrapping and recycling process, there are very strict EU guidelines that must be followed and plenty of DVLA paperwork to take care of. But at the same time, there are quite a few parties out there on our side on the industry that don’t think UK authorities are doing enough to accurately monitor and report on the recycling industry’s performance as a whole. 
Each year, around 1.7 million vehicles are scrapped into the UK alone – a pretty remarkable statistic. However, when looking at the DVLA’s official scrapping statistics compared with that of the industry, there generally seems to be an annual discrepancy of about 500,000 cars. Which of course begs the obvious question – where on Earth are they going?
Now, the official word on the subject has always been one of admin errors and general paperwork issued, but at the same time it’s hard to believe that 10,000 cars are going missing every week due to human error. Instead, it’s far more believable that these cars are quite simply not being scrapped, recycled and appropriately declared as such by the individuals charged with the job. And not only does this mean that the car is not put back to good use and therefore has no benefit on the UK or its environment, but it could also leave a fair few individuals open to heavy fines.
The message from the industry and one that we always echo is a simple one – when the time comes to scrap a car, there really IS a right and a wrong way of doing it. To go about the job as if you’re just throwing the car in the bin is wholly inappropriate and doesn’t benefit anyone – it can also lead to stiff penalties. There are very strict rules set by the EU in terms of how a car should be recycled and what should be done with all the bits and pieces – operating in any other way is wholly forbidden.
Do we practice as we preach? Very much so, which is exactly why we never skirt around the subject of responsible recycling. We’re totally on-board with the idea of making it as difficult as possible for cowboy scrapping companies to make a living doing things that benefit nobody other than themselves. From your end, scrapping a car should be easy, leave you with no expenses to cover and happy in the knowledge that you’ve done a good thing for the environment.
With Take My Scrap Car, that’s exactly what we promise every one of our clients as standard.
