You’ve seen those “Cash for cars” signs and wondered if you should call them to pick the old Volkswagen that just rusting away in your yard. It’s too old to trade in and you don’t just want to dump it after all the years of faithful service it’s given you. The good news is that cars auto salvage is valuable. It has a monetary value and the materials are recycled to make new automobiles. It saves space in the landfills and gives the useful materials a new life.
Can autos really be recycled?
The answer is yes. The auto recycling industry is actually the 16th largest in the U.S. It contributes an impressive $25 billion per year to the GDP. More than 25 million tons of material is recovered from old vehicles, at around 7,000 vehicle recycling facilities around the country.
In the U.S. alone, about 12 million cars are recycled each year, making them the most recycled item in the world. The USA and Canada together produce enough steel from recycled vehicles for 13 million new vehicles.
What are the benefits of auto recycling?
Dealers who offer cash for cars help the automotive industry find materials for new cars. This reduces the financial and environmental costs of producing materials. In fact, in North America, the automotive recycling industry saves around 85 million barrels of oil each year by using recycled automotive materials.
More than 14 million tons of recycled steel are produced each year by the automotive recycling industry. Each new car has on about average 25% of its body made from recycled steel. Another useful material recovered from automotive recycling is aluminum. As much as 90% of the aluminum in a vehicle can be recovered and recycled.
How does auto recycling help the environment?
As noted above, the recycled materials such as steel and aluminum are used to produce new cars. This saves on the costs of producing new materials. Aluminum mining can be a messy and environmentally destructive affair. By reusing the aluminum from recycled automobiles, an expensive and important material is obtained by non-destructive means.
Keeping the materials out of landfills is another plus. Not only are landfills across the nation overflowing, it takes years and even decades after a landfill is closed to make that land useful for any other purpose again. Recycling is the environmentally sound choice for many reasons.
Who offers cash for junk cars?
Dealers who connect to the automotive recycling industry offer cash for cars because they will recover their investment and more. Scrap prices for cars can be surprisingly profitable. If you see an ad offering cash for cars in York PA or anywhere else, you can be sure it’s legit. And you can go ahead and do right thing for yourself and the environment by taking up that offer.
So the next time you see a cash for cars offer, you’re looking at an environmentally sound choice. Keeping important materials like steel and aluminum out of landfills is an admirable goal in itself. If it gives you a little extra cash in hand, you could certainly find a good use for it.
