When a car is sent away for recycling, the single most important resource it holds is of course that gorgeous steel. Up to 80% of the steel a car contains can be recycled and as recycled steel is pretty much the material the world is built on, it makes sense to put it to good use.
However, we often get asked what happens to the rest of the car’s bits and pieces that cannot necessarily go off to the steel recycling plant. We promise to do what’s best for the UK with every last shred of your car, so what exactly happens to the rest of the car’s components and materials? 
We promise that nothing goes to waste and we mean it too – here’s an overview of just a few examples of where stuff goes:
Oils and Other Fluids
There are some fluids that can be directly reused or recycled, depending on their condition, age and so on. We carefully extract all oil, brake fluid and so on and so forth, in order to make sure we don’t waste a drop of what’s still useful. And when it’s of no real use to us, we make sure it gets taken to an approved disposal facility.
In the case of windscreen washer fluid or coolant that may still be in the car, these can more often than not be taken out, bottled up and reused – why waste what’s still got life in it?
Car Batteries
As for what happens to the car’s battery, again if there’s any way it can be reused as it is…some are still in perfect working order…then it will be put back into use. If on the other hand it’s as dead as the dodo, it still has plenty to offer for recycling purposes. Not only can the acid itself be recycled, but the plastic casing is a popular material to use for the manufacture of outdoors plant pots and garden containers.
Tyres
If the car’s tyres are in good condition, there’s no reason at all why they cannot be reused. If on the other hand they are slightly worn, they may be of value to those that take old tyres and fashion them into useable tyres for a variety of purposes. And if there’s really no value in them left for road use, they may find themselves being recycled into anything from rubber mats for a car’s interior right through to heavy-duty dog toys.
Windows
More often than not, windows are removed and put into storage as the demand for replacement windows is consistently high across the UK and ordering straight form a car’s manufacturer can be expensive to say the least. If it isn’t broken and there’s a chance it will be of use to someone, we make sure it’s removed and saved.
The list goes on, but in all cases reaffirms our guarantee that we will never, ever allow a single bit of your car to go to waste if it has the potential to be either reused or recycled.
