For a lot of us, our cars are more than simply a way to get around; they’ve been by our sides for years, gathering dents, memories, and a few too many coffee stains. Seeing a car near the end of its life can be a somber farewell. What happens to it when it is dismantled, however, is an intriguing journey of change rather than a final resting place in a junkyard.
The process of discarding a modern car is a very well-organized, ecologically conscious, and technologically sophisticated affair. It’s a vital component of the circular economy, in which an automobile’s life cycle continues after it leaves the road and continues as a raw material for numerous new goods. This is a thorough examination of an automobile’s whole lifecycle following delivery to a qualified salvage yard.
Step 1: Secure and Legal Processing
Secure processing and documentation are the first steps in the scrapping process. Your car isn’t simply left parked and forgotten when you give it to a licensed salvage yard like Recycle City. The facility issues a digital Certificate of Destruction (CoD) after confirming all the documentation, including your Vehicle Registration Certificate (RC). By formally declaring your car “scrapped” and deregistering it from the RTO database, this important legal document releases you from all further responsibility. This digital procedure guarantees that the vehicle cannot be used for fraudulent purposes or unlawfully resold.
Step 2: The Depollution Process
Before any dismantling can begin, the car must undergo a thorough depollution process. This is perhaps the most critical stage for environmental safety. A team of experts carefully removes all hazardous and toxic materials to prevent them from contaminating the environment. This includes:
- Draining all fluids: Engine oil, brake fluid, coolant, power steering fluid, and even the air conditioning refrigerant are meticulously drained and stored in secure, separate containers. These fluids can be recycled or disposed of in an eco-friendly manner.
- Removing the battery: Car batteries contain lead and acid, which are highly toxic. They are removed and sent to a specialized recycling facility that can safely recover the materials.
- Neutralizing the airbags: Airbags contain a small explosive charge to deploy during a collision. A trained technician must safely deactivate them to prevent any accidental detonation during the dismantling process.
- Draining out the AC gas: Ac gas is also drained out with the help of AC gas recovery machine
By handling these hazardous materials responsibly, professional scrapping facilities ensure that they don’t end up in landfills, where they could leak into the ground and water supply.
Step 3: Dismantling for Reusable Parts
The vehicle proceeds to the disassembly phase once it has been cleaned. A competent facility is able to determine which of the thousands of individual pieces that make up an automobile are still useful. This is when “recycling” really comes into its own.
Parts that are in good working condition are meticulously removed, cleaned, and tested. Parts that are allowed to be used in AIS-129 are marked and removed carefully that are salvageable.
Salvaging usable parts not only provides a source of income but also helps in reducing manufacturing costs for new components and supports a sustainable supply chain for the automotive industry.
Step 4: Crushing and Shredding
Only the car’s naked shell is left after all the fluids and reusable components have been taken out. Known as the “car body” or “end-of-life vehicle (ELV) hulk,” this shell is now prepared for the process’s last, more spectacular phases.
After being transferred to a strong industrial press, the car is compressed into a little metal cube. The material becomes denser as a result, which facilitates and lowers transportation costs.
The crushed cube is then sent to a shredder. This machine, often a massive, powerful device with rotating blades, pulverizes the car into fist-sized pieces. This process is crucial as it separates the different materials from each other.
Step 5: Sorting and Material Recovery
This is a high-tech stage that follows the shredding. The shredded pieces, a mixture of various materials, are sent along a conveyor belt where they are sorted using a combination of methods:
- Magnetic Separation: Powerful magnets are used to separate ferrous metals (iron and steel) from non-ferrous materials. Ferrous metals make up the bulk of a car’s weight and are a highly valuable commodity.
- Eddy Current Separators: These devices use magnetic fields to repel and separate non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, and zinc from the rest of the mix. These metals are even more valuable than steel and can be recycled with less energy.
- Manual and Mechanical Sorting: The remaining materials, including plastics, glass, and foam, are often sorted manually or with the help of air classifiers and other machines.
This meticulous sorting process is why a professional facility can recycle approximately 95% of a car’s weight.
Step 6: The New Life of Old Materials
Finally, the recovered materials are sent to various industries to be used as raw materials for new products. This is the ultimate goal of vehicle scrapping: to close the loop and prevent waste.
- Steel and Aluminum: The recovered metal is melted down in furnaces and can be used to make new car parts, construction materials, appliances, and even new cars.
- Plastics: Recycled plastics can be used to create dashboards, bumpers, and other interior components for new vehicles.
- Glass: The glass from windows and windshields is often crushed and melted to make new glass products.
- Tires: As mentioned earlier, tires can be re-purposed into a variety of products, from road surfacing to playground flooring.
The journey of a scrapped car is not one of finality, but of transformation. By choosing a professional and authorized scrapping facility, you’re not just getting rid of an old vehicle; you’re actively participating in a sustainable process that benefits the environment and the economy. Your old car, once a symbol of mobility, becomes a symbol of sustainability, reborn as the building blocks for a greener future.
For more information, you can watch this video on the car scrapping process. How To Scrap a Car in India? Car Scrapping Explained This video provides a visual overview of how the vehicle scrapping process works in India.