Recycle Car

Fortunately, the American mainstream is finally beginning to embrace things ''Green''. Recycling has finally taken a foothold in how we dispose of trash from our homes, schools, and businesses. A new type recycling is now gaining in popularity in California, as many green concepts do, and is trying to convince people to recycle their car.

Auto salvage yards, used parts dealers, and scrap metal dealers can all rightly claim that they have been recycling cars for years. The reality, however, is that their forms of recycling are very inefficient and not very kind to the environment.

Salvage yards are happy when a car on their lot generates a few used part sales. Most of the car simply rots and leaches dangerous chemicals into the ground. Scrap metal dealers simply take everything that isn't metal and put it in a landfill. Used parts dealers do the best when they ''recycle'' a car because they generally strip it of everything that can be used again, and then recycle the metal.

If you truly want to recycle your car in a way that is kind to the environment, you need to ask the car removal business or car donation charity what will happen to your car. Will the many computer chips that most cars now have be removed and disposed of properly? Are lead and mercury removed from the vehicle properly, or will they leach into the ground somewhere?

It's rarely easy to do the right thing for the environment. It takes an effort on our part. If you want to recycle your car, take the time to be sure that it's actually being done right.