How Are Buick Parts Recycled?

Car parts recycling has come a long way in recent years. In the old days, people didn’t know how to properly dispose of a no longer functioning vehicle and its parts, and they went to the junkyard.

Fortunately, Buick is one of the automakers leading the way in sustainable car parts recycling, and today, auto parts recycling is the 16^th largest industry in the United States and generates about $25 million in annual income. Here’s how Buick parts are recycled.

Detailed Inspection

When the car reaches the end of its life, the owner may sell it to a junkyard or recycling facility. Once it gets there, it goes through four steps.

The first is an inspection. A recycling facility will test the car to see if it is more valuable to repair than recycle. If it needs to be recycled, the facility will dismantle and recycle.

Dismantling Parts

Next, the facility will drain different vehicle fluids, such as oil and gas. Then the car engine and transmission are lifted out of the chassis and usable parts are removed and cleaned.

Selling Recovered Auto Parts

Some car parts are reusable and can be used to repair other Buick cars. Other parts are sold to auto-part re-manufacturers. The recycling facility may sell these parts.

Crushing and Shredding

Once all the reusable car parts, except for metals like iron and steel, are sorted out and sold, all that remains is the car body. This includes different metals that are then crushed and shredded into a flat metal chunk. If this chunk were processed into a cube, it would be roughly the size of a microwave oven.

To learn more about how Buick parts are recycled, talk to one of our Buick parts experts.