The word is ‘Scrapyard’ (or Junkyard in the US), and sets customer expectations of a dirty, smelly, dangerous area behind steel fences inhabited by scruffy, intimidating staff and their dogs. Yards piled high with old cars leaking all sorts of harmful fluids.
Nothing can be further from the truth with today’s professional Auto Recycling Operations.
These yards are clean, tidy, safe and very environmentally friendly. Vehicles are de-polluted in specialist areas so that all hazardous materials are removed before they then get stored in a fully concreted yard on specially made racking.
More importantly, 85% of each vehicle is recycled (rising to 95% in 2015), and each vehicle dismantled and recycled means less virgin raw material is being used with a reduction in carbon footprint globally.
In the UK Auto Recycling yards are licensed by Environment Agencies, and details of each yard can be found on the relevant web sites for each part of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and N Ireland). These licensed sites meet the minimum standards set by the licensing authority and are regularly inspected to make certain they keep to the appropriate level of compliance.
There are many companies whose standards far exceed the minimum required; most of these are set apart through membership of the 2 industry associations, the Motor Vehicle Dismantlers Association (MVDA) and British Vehicle Salvage Federation (BVSF). You can see details of members on each association web site where they also set out their standards of membership.
Whether you are scrapping a vehicle or purchasing parts use of an MVDA or BVSF member will ensure that your vehicle is dismantled to the highest standards, is good for the environment, and could enable another customer to obtain recycled parts to repair their vehicle that may be too costly from the vehicle manufacturer.
Auto Recycling is a sustainable and environmentally friendly profession, just don’t mention the ‘S’ word!
You can find more information about the MVDA and BVSF at the following web sites:
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