If you know anything about car scrapping and recycling, you’ll know that the average scrap car still has a fair amount of value to it. Scrap metal prices may fluctuate wildly, but the call for recycled materials across the UK remains consistent at all times.
Nevertheless, you might not realise that along with the slightly less valuable metals and materials in your car, you could also be sitting on some serious hidden treasure. Not the kind of treasure you yourself could make use of, but treasure nonetheless.
According to a report published by researchers from the Chalmers University of Technology, hundreds of millions of euros are being thrown away every year due to a lack of vehicle recycling incentives. The reason being that along with the more easily accessible metals and components within the average scrap car, scrap vehicles also contain surprisingly large quantities of scarce and precious metals.
For example, it’s estimated that at least 20 tonnes of gold went entirely to waste in 2015, having failed to be recycled or reclaimed from vehicles across Europe. In the meantime, experts have begun creating a new database to help combat the problem.
What makes the recycling process of precious metals in vehicles so difficult is the way in which they tend to be spread out in extremely small quantities. Every gram of gold present in the average car may be distributed over many dozens of components.
As far as the experts are concerned, it’s an issue that definitely needs to be addressed, though one that currently lacks a clear and accessible solution.
“Automotive manufacturers and the recycling and material industries need to work together to ensure that something happens. It must be possible to do more than at present, after all this has been achieved with electrical and electronic equipment,” commented Maria Ljunggren Söderman, a researcher at Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University of Technology.
“Having said that, gold is a comparatively low-hanging fruit, and the prospects for recycling other critical and scarce metals are from both vehicles and electrical and electronic equipment are significantly less favourable. If we want to alter this, policy changes may be necessary.”
“The critical and scarce metals in our products have increased substantially, and in most cases we only use them once. This must be addressed, especially because these metals are required for many of the sustainable technological solutions that we currently have on the table.”
Take My Scrap Car
Here at Take My Scrap Car, we work hard to provide the most reliable, responsible and rewarding approach to car scrapping and recycling on the UK market. When the time comes to get rid of any old vehicle in your life, simply get in touch with a member of our customer support team to arrange a quick and convenient collection.
Along with providing all of our services 100% free of charge, we also promise to pay you the best possible price in accordance with scrap values at the time. We can’t do a great deal with the more precious metals in your car for the time being, but still…you won’t find a better deal anywhere in the county!
