Auto Recycling

Auto recycling is a term with many meanings these days. Traditional auto recycling, of totaled or junk cars, involves stripping a car of its spare parts, trying to recover as much of the metal as possible, and throwing the rest into a landfill.

To be fair, reusing spare parts in other cars and trucks is pure recycling. Also, scrap metal dealers do recycle the steel. The environmental impact of traditional auto recycling, however, is anything but Green.

First, there are a great many recyclable materials that are not recycled, and end up simply being thrown into a landfill. From fabric and Polly filling, to leather and plastic, traditional auto recycling just take the working automotive parts and steel, and the rest is left to rot.

Second, almost no care is taken to ensure that what is thrown into the landfill doesn't affect the water table. Virtually all cars have had one or more computer chips for about a decade. As these cars leave service because of age or because they're totaled, the vast majority of so-called auto recycling companies leave the computer chips to degrade in a landfill.

Added to the mercury and other toxic materials that leach from decaying computer chips, are all of the residual fluids and chemicals from man made materials, and we have millions or tons of wholly inorganic additions to our landfills because of the way traditional auto recycling businesses operate.

Fortunately, as usual California is leading the way in a new wave of Green innovation. A growing effort to make auto recycling in California truly green has a foothold, and will hopefully grow from there.