Much has changed in the automotive landscape over the past 30 years, but a trip to the wrecker's yard can be like going back in time.
You might be greeted by a surly counterman, who will – in an offhand fashion – send you to forage for the part you want. You may still have to bring your own tools and trudge across a yard slimy with mud and a cocktail of automotive fluids. And once you've extracted a serviceable specimen of the part in question, you might see the yard owner slip the cash you hand him right into his hip pocket.
Arrive after hours and you may well get to meet his dogs.
But auto wreckers are evolving, even if there are lingering images of grimy, polluted mud-yards operating on the margins of civil society. The image in some cases remains accurate, but often ironic, too. This is an industry built upon two of the saintliest environmental virtues: reuse and recycling.
The culture and processes that result in cubes or pancakes of crushed metal being shipped to the shredders – usually with a human body inside, according to Hollywood – are only part of the auto wreckers' story. And many in the business could use a little help from the public to remake the image, especially when it comes to reusing perfectly good automotive parts.
"We're really happy to sell the parts," says David Gold, president of Standard Auto Wreckers in Scarborough. "The trouble is the public doesn't know we exist. Some of my own relatives go out and pay $400 for a new alternator, when I've got 10 of them for $75 that I can't get rid of."
Reuse can range from customers pulling a heater-control lever out of an old Civic in the U-Pull-It section, to a local repair shop purchasing a serviceable engine off the shelf to extend the life of a neighbour's beloved Nissan Axxess, to a body shop snapping up an entire front-end structure from a wreck that got rear-ended so it can repair a similar vehicle with frontal damage.
Much of the growth in parts reuse has been driven by auto insurers trying to keep premiums down.
Standard Auto Wreckers, which also has a new 4.5-hectare indoor facility in upstate New York, uses a warren of old portables for offices at its original Scarborough location.
Most of the outdoors is unpaved, but you're likely to be greeted by a friendly young woman at the reception desk. Gold himself looks like the proverbial nice young man, and if you met him outside work you might guess he's a laser eye surgeon.
But he is very much a businessman and he doesn't want to lose customers who can't find the parts they want. Things are organized at Standard; Gold has a department that sells new or reconditioned aftermarket parts. Another one does new wheels and tires. In a different area, four employees sit in front of computers. They're "attending" online auctions of salvage vehicles – wrecks that have been written off by the insurance companies.
A staffer named Ryan Pegg "wins" a late-90s Pontiac Grand Am for $600. His software program also lists the parts that Standard expects to sell – for a total of $2,750.
It all looks like easy money until Gold points out that the yard's overhead averages nearly $2,000 per vehicle.
Parts prices are elastic; inventory control software constantly monitors supply and demand and adjusts prices accordingly. Another program keeps track of interchangeability – letting a customer know, for example, whether he can use a headlamp from a 1995 Intrepid on his '97.
Buying salvage vehicles online has become nearly universal in the past few years. The practice relies on vendors providing truthful information on the cars' condition, and the industry has developed a protocol for doing that, using commonly agreed upon codes.
There's also the risk that the vehicle may acquire further damage – perhaps hit by a forklift – between purchase and delivery. "The auction houses don't really care," Gold says. "Their customers are the insurance companies."
Typically, a salvage car would be a 2001 model purchased for about $2,000. These vehicles represent about 15 per cent of the 400 autos that enter Standard's facility each week.
The other 85 per cent are mostly end-of-lifers – average model year 1990 – towed from pounds or driven in by their last owners. Some are donated through programs such as Car Heaven (the vehicle's scrap value goes to charity and the donor gets a tax receipt).
The going rate for scrap vehicles is $160 a tonne, Gold says.
A newly arrived scrapper's first appointment is with the hoist; all its fluids have to be drained. Radiators, oil pans and fuel tanks are simply cut open to let the stuff out. Four hydraulic jacks on the hoist can tip and tilt the car body to ensure every last drop gets out.
Air conditioning refrigerant is captured and disposed of according to set procedures. There's also a special recovery program for the mercury switches used in most modern cars. Standard also does the paperwork to de-register the vehicles, so the authorities know which vehicle identification numbers (VINs) no linger exist.
Nothing goes to waste. Batteries, wheels and tires are resold, if marketable. If not, they are recycled. Gasoline goes into a tank from which employees fill their own cars for free. Clean coolant is given away to customers.
Depending on marketability, remaining parts of the hulk either go straight to the crusher or spend four to six weeks in the U-Pull-It yard.
Elsewhere, in a heated shed closed to the public, Standard's employees remove saleable parts from the newer vehicles.
Every part destined for the warehouse gets a detailed, computer-generated tag. "A late-model car is just the box the parts came in," Gold says.
Increasingly, computers and online commerce mean trips to the wrecking yard are of the virtual variety.
On your home computer, you might click on www.car-part.com and enter the details of the part you need. The website searches members' inventories and lists recyclers that have it.
Miller's Auto Recycling in Fort Erie might be the one with the right part at the right price. You might contact the company, arrange shipping and payment on your credit card.
A few days later the part arrives at your front door – and all without going within five miles of a junkyard dog.
JEREMY SINEK - Apr 21, 2007, Toronto Star
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tire Recycling Overview
Tire recycling is the process of recycling vehicles tires (or tyres) that are no longer suitable for use on vehicles due to wear or irreparable damage (such as punctures). These tires are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste, due to the large volume produced and their durability...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_recycling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_recycling
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Big 3 Auto Recycling Program To Expand Focus
USCAR announces contract with ECO2 Plastics to explore 'rinse and recycle' applications for end-of-life vehicles
The United States Council for Automotive Research's (USCAR) Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), composed of researchers from DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation, recently announced an initiative to enable the recycling of all materials in shredder residue, regardless of their source.
As part of its work, the VRP recently contracted with ECO2 Plastics Inc. to evaluate its proprietary polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic recycling technology. The ECO2 technology removes substances of concern from plastics recovered from "shredder residue" -- the material left when end-of-life vehicles (ELV), household appliances and other large items are "shredded" by a large, grinding hammer-mill, or shredder, as part of their recycling process.
While the U.S. automakers have worked to eliminate substances of concern (SOCs) from general vehicle content, some SOCs can still be found in shredder residue, which contains materials from a combination of automotive and non-automotive sources, giving the program even broader potential for environmental leadership.
Currently, more than 84%, by weight of materials, of each ELV in the United States is recycled, with 95% of all vehicles going through the existing infrastructure. ECO2's proprietary recycling process addresses the plastics found in the unrecycled portion. If successful, such a system will enable recovered plastics to be more easily reused.
The USCAR VRP currently is engaged in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council to address the sustainable recycling of current and future materials from ELVs. This is the third CRADA established among the participants since the inception of the VRP in 1991.
As part of the CRADA team, the VRP is collaborating with private industry and government to discover and implement innovative recycling solutions to enhance the current market-driven U.S. vehicle-recycling infrastructure.
ECO2's PET plastic recycling technology has the potential to be one of several recycling solutions for shredder residue that fits within the current U.S. recycling infrastructure.
By Brad Kenney, Industryweek.com
The United States Council for Automotive Research's (USCAR) Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), composed of researchers from DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation, recently announced an initiative to enable the recycling of all materials in shredder residue, regardless of their source.
As part of its work, the VRP recently contracted with ECO2 Plastics Inc. to evaluate its proprietary polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic recycling technology. The ECO2 technology removes substances of concern from plastics recovered from "shredder residue" -- the material left when end-of-life vehicles (ELV), household appliances and other large items are "shredded" by a large, grinding hammer-mill, or shredder, as part of their recycling process.
While the U.S. automakers have worked to eliminate substances of concern (SOCs) from general vehicle content, some SOCs can still be found in shredder residue, which contains materials from a combination of automotive and non-automotive sources, giving the program even broader potential for environmental leadership.
Currently, more than 84%, by weight of materials, of each ELV in the United States is recycled, with 95% of all vehicles going through the existing infrastructure. ECO2's proprietary recycling process addresses the plastics found in the unrecycled portion. If successful, such a system will enable recovered plastics to be more easily reused.
The USCAR VRP currently is engaged in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council to address the sustainable recycling of current and future materials from ELVs. This is the third CRADA established among the participants since the inception of the VRP in 1991.
As part of the CRADA team, the VRP is collaborating with private industry and government to discover and implement innovative recycling solutions to enhance the current market-driven U.S. vehicle-recycling infrastructure.
ECO2's PET plastic recycling technology has the potential to be one of several recycling solutions for shredder residue that fits within the current U.S. recycling infrastructure.
By Brad Kenney, Industryweek.com
Friday, June 29, 2007
Scrapyards fight bad rap, enjoy boom
When most people think of automobile scrapyards, they envision piles of dirty, junked cars, the grime of oil and engine fuels, and the risk of environmental damage that comes with car crushing.
Such assumptions are misguided, said Larry Brown, vice president of Jerry Brown's Auto Parts Center in Queensbury.
Brown insists the industry, which has experienced a significant boom in recent years, provides services that benefit the community on several levels, including the environment.
The obvious benefits of the industry are an alternative for the cost of new car parts and the removal of junk cars.
"We're the competition for dealerships and an alternative for expensive new parts," Brown said. "When we get a car, we inventory what's reusable: mirrors, glass, engines, tires, doors, batteries -- almost everything. Often, it's a savings of 50 percent of the cost of a new part for our customers."
When Brown's company doesn't have a specific part, Brown said the online network of salvage yards allows him access to more than 2,000 shops' inventories in the United States and Canada.
"I'll know within seconds when and where I can get a part, if I don't already have it here," he said.
Jerry DeLuca, executive director of the Automotive Recyclers Association of New York, said there are 743 automobile dismantlers in New York "providing a place for end-of-life cars to go."
In 1997, more than 4.7 million cars were recycled nationwide, according to the association.
"We take one to two junk cars a day from people who live nearby. Those are cars that would just sit there otherwise," Cornell said.
Brown said his company recycles around 1,500 vehicles per year, in addition to the 2,000 kept on site.
Additional benefits that result from the industry are reduced insurance premiums and reduced costs of metal.
Brown said the vast majority of his junk cars are purchased through insurance auctions, which allows the insurance companies to recover costs and therefore offer more competitive premiums. Cornell said he purchases 10 to 15 cars per week at the auctions.
The discount price of used parts also allows insurance companies to repair insured vehicles for less, which translates into lower premiums, Brown said.
"Ninety percent of my business is wholesale (to companies like insurance firms)," he said.
The recycling of scrap metal means a reduction in the cost of materials needed for construction or for building new cars and ultimately results in reduced need for natural resources.
DeLuca said the demand for steel has reached an all time high worldwide.
"Automobile recyclers supply steel and many other metals that are recycled and used in construction," DeLuca said. "Even copper piping is cheaper because of what's recovered from old cars."
"There isn't much metal that's not in high demand," Brown added.
And that demand is what has driven the boom in the scrapyard industry.
Brown said that, in 1995, his company was receiving about $18 per ton of crushed cars, whereas in February, he received $165 per ton.
And it's the industry boom that Brown partially blames for the industry's bad reputation as an environmental hazard.
"Crushed cars are the by-product of my business," Brown said. "We recycle what we can and crush what we can't. That metal (that we can't recycle) will be recycled elsewhere.
"A lot of people are trying to get into the industry because of the boom and are primarily out for higher weights in crushing. In order make money, you have to turn cars over quickly."
That inexperience, combined with the need for quantity, can lead to sloppiness, Brown said. And that can lead to spills and contamination.
Maureen Wren, spokeswoman with the State Department of Environmental Conservation, said salvage yards are regulated by the DEC, and the biggest risk is groundwater contamination due to petroleum spills.
The DEC requires that all fluids are properly drained to ensure spills don't occur. The industry is also heavily regulated by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, DeLuca said.
Cornell agrees with Brown that the industry has a lot of companies that cut corners to make an extra buck.
"They give us a bad rap," Cornell said. "I live next door to my shop. I drink the water. I have to care about it."
"It's not hard to do this job safely, but you have to care
about the environment," Brown said. "You have to have good housekeeping and organization."
Brown and Cornell said their companies have never had a major spill, despite both being in the second generation of ownership.
Brown, Cornell and DeLuca insist that, when done correctly, the industry actually helps the environment.
The Automotive Recyclers Association reports that 11 million gallons of oil and 6 million tires were recycled nationwide in 1997, in addition to enough steel to produce almost 13 million new vehicles.
"We save energy by reusing parts that would otherwise need to be made brand-new," Brown said. "And even the brand-new parts often have recycled components in them, through the metal that's crushed and sorted."
By Melissa Guay
mguay@poststar.com
Such assumptions are misguided, said Larry Brown, vice president of Jerry Brown's Auto Parts Center in Queensbury.
Brown insists the industry, which has experienced a significant boom in recent years, provides services that benefit the community on several levels, including the environment.
The obvious benefits of the industry are an alternative for the cost of new car parts and the removal of junk cars.
"We're the competition for dealerships and an alternative for expensive new parts," Brown said. "When we get a car, we inventory what's reusable: mirrors, glass, engines, tires, doors, batteries -- almost everything. Often, it's a savings of 50 percent of the cost of a new part for our customers."
When Brown's company doesn't have a specific part, Brown said the online network of salvage yards allows him access to more than 2,000 shops' inventories in the United States and Canada.
"I'll know within seconds when and where I can get a part, if I don't already have it here," he said.
Jerry DeLuca, executive director of the Automotive Recyclers Association of New York, said there are 743 automobile dismantlers in New York "providing a place for end-of-life cars to go."
In 1997, more than 4.7 million cars were recycled nationwide, according to the association.
"We take one to two junk cars a day from people who live nearby. Those are cars that would just sit there otherwise," Cornell said.
Brown said his company recycles around 1,500 vehicles per year, in addition to the 2,000 kept on site.
Additional benefits that result from the industry are reduced insurance premiums and reduced costs of metal.
Brown said the vast majority of his junk cars are purchased through insurance auctions, which allows the insurance companies to recover costs and therefore offer more competitive premiums. Cornell said he purchases 10 to 15 cars per week at the auctions.
The discount price of used parts also allows insurance companies to repair insured vehicles for less, which translates into lower premiums, Brown said.
"Ninety percent of my business is wholesale (to companies like insurance firms)," he said.
The recycling of scrap metal means a reduction in the cost of materials needed for construction or for building new cars and ultimately results in reduced need for natural resources.
DeLuca said the demand for steel has reached an all time high worldwide.
"Automobile recyclers supply steel and many other metals that are recycled and used in construction," DeLuca said. "Even copper piping is cheaper because of what's recovered from old cars."
"There isn't much metal that's not in high demand," Brown added.
And that demand is what has driven the boom in the scrapyard industry.
Brown said that, in 1995, his company was receiving about $18 per ton of crushed cars, whereas in February, he received $165 per ton.
And it's the industry boom that Brown partially blames for the industry's bad reputation as an environmental hazard.
"Crushed cars are the by-product of my business," Brown said. "We recycle what we can and crush what we can't. That metal (that we can't recycle) will be recycled elsewhere.
"A lot of people are trying to get into the industry because of the boom and are primarily out for higher weights in crushing. In order make money, you have to turn cars over quickly."
That inexperience, combined with the need for quantity, can lead to sloppiness, Brown said. And that can lead to spills and contamination.
Maureen Wren, spokeswoman with the State Department of Environmental Conservation, said salvage yards are regulated by the DEC, and the biggest risk is groundwater contamination due to petroleum spills.
The DEC requires that all fluids are properly drained to ensure spills don't occur. The industry is also heavily regulated by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, DeLuca said.
Cornell agrees with Brown that the industry has a lot of companies that cut corners to make an extra buck.
"They give us a bad rap," Cornell said. "I live next door to my shop. I drink the water. I have to care about it."
"It's not hard to do this job safely, but you have to care
about the environment," Brown said. "You have to have good housekeeping and organization."
Brown and Cornell said their companies have never had a major spill, despite both being in the second generation of ownership.
Brown, Cornell and DeLuca insist that, when done correctly, the industry actually helps the environment.
The Automotive Recyclers Association reports that 11 million gallons of oil and 6 million tires were recycled nationwide in 1997, in addition to enough steel to produce almost 13 million new vehicles.
"We save energy by reusing parts that would otherwise need to be made brand-new," Brown said. "And even the brand-new parts often have recycled components in them, through the metal that's crushed and sorted."
By Melissa Guay
mguay@poststar.com
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Ahead of the recycling curve
The name of SGI's car recycling centre creates an image of a dusty junkyard filled with piles of rusting, crushed vehicles guarded by a mangy dog and squirrely old man wielding a shotgun.
It isn't the case. SGI's Salvage Centres are state of the art, processing more than 16,000 cars per year in Saskatchewan. The Regina location handles more than 5,500 cars per year.
Officials invited guests to tour the facility Tuesday to see how it works and what SGI is doing to protect the environment. Over the past six decades, it has recycled more than seven million pounds of steel, 95,000 litres of oil and other fluids, 1,400 pounds of freon gas and 300 grams of mercury.
The income from the resale of salvaged and recycled goods was $5.6 million last year. The money raised goes back into the auto fund, keeping insurance rates low, according to officials."We were recycling mercury switches for six or seven years and 10 to 15 years for freon before it was made mandatory. We try to stay ahead of the legislation," said Al Ripplinger, the branch manager for the Regina salvage centre.
When cars are written off in accidents by SGI, they are taken to the salvage yard at 460 Fleet St., in the northeast area of Regina.
Vehicles are assessed before a small army of mechanics and technicians tears them apart. Oil is drained from motors and freon is sucked out of the coolant systems. If oil isn't recycled properly it could contaminate the soil, and it's illegal to allow the free venting of freon.
The salvage yard itself is massive. The parts storage room resembles a weapons locker. Row upon row of salvaged parts hang from hooks, tagged, sorted and registered in a province-wide parts computer database.
The garage is filled with the whine of power drills and electrical saws. Car doors are stacked in rows, with windows still inside them.
Drains in the floors are designed with a two-part filtration system to prevent any spilled fluids from getting into the sewer system. The floors look clean, the concrete is gray and not stained black with oil.
"Everything is kept very neat and clean because of environmental regulations. You can't have a big mess," said Ripplinger.
SGI also uses special containers for shipping parts to prevent fluids from spilling during transport. In the past, engine cores used to be loaded into the back of an open truck. A trail of oil would be left behind as it drove away, according to Ripplinger.
"I can't believe how much contamination there must have been in the soil," he said.
The big goal is recycling to save the environment but Ripplinger has seen some amazing sights come through his shop. He said one of the most memorable was a photo of car that hit a moose. The moose's head was on the trunk and the hind legs were on the hood of the car.
"The passengers walked away from that one," said Ripplinger. "The moose was huge. I have no idea where (the passengers) would have fit after that."
Matthew Barton, The Regina Leader-Post. Published: Wednesday, June 06, 2007
It isn't the case. SGI's Salvage Centres are state of the art, processing more than 16,000 cars per year in Saskatchewan. The Regina location handles more than 5,500 cars per year.
Officials invited guests to tour the facility Tuesday to see how it works and what SGI is doing to protect the environment. Over the past six decades, it has recycled more than seven million pounds of steel, 95,000 litres of oil and other fluids, 1,400 pounds of freon gas and 300 grams of mercury.
The income from the resale of salvaged and recycled goods was $5.6 million last year. The money raised goes back into the auto fund, keeping insurance rates low, according to officials."We were recycling mercury switches for six or seven years and 10 to 15 years for freon before it was made mandatory. We try to stay ahead of the legislation," said Al Ripplinger, the branch manager for the Regina salvage centre.
When cars are written off in accidents by SGI, they are taken to the salvage yard at 460 Fleet St., in the northeast area of Regina.
Vehicles are assessed before a small army of mechanics and technicians tears them apart. Oil is drained from motors and freon is sucked out of the coolant systems. If oil isn't recycled properly it could contaminate the soil, and it's illegal to allow the free venting of freon.
The salvage yard itself is massive. The parts storage room resembles a weapons locker. Row upon row of salvaged parts hang from hooks, tagged, sorted and registered in a province-wide parts computer database.
The garage is filled with the whine of power drills and electrical saws. Car doors are stacked in rows, with windows still inside them.
Drains in the floors are designed with a two-part filtration system to prevent any spilled fluids from getting into the sewer system. The floors look clean, the concrete is gray and not stained black with oil.
"Everything is kept very neat and clean because of environmental regulations. You can't have a big mess," said Ripplinger.
SGI also uses special containers for shipping parts to prevent fluids from spilling during transport. In the past, engine cores used to be loaded into the back of an open truck. A trail of oil would be left behind as it drove away, according to Ripplinger.
"I can't believe how much contamination there must have been in the soil," he said.
The big goal is recycling to save the environment but Ripplinger has seen some amazing sights come through his shop. He said one of the most memorable was a photo of car that hit a moose. The moose's head was on the trunk and the hind legs were on the hood of the car.
"The passengers walked away from that one," said Ripplinger. "The moose was huge. I have no idea where (the passengers) would have fit after that."
Matthew Barton, The Regina Leader-Post. Published: Wednesday, June 06, 2007
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