Recycling everyday items, like cardboard and plastic, has become second nature. A vehicle, on the other hand, isn’t a household item left on the curb. Surprisingly, automobiles are the most recycled consumer product, with a 100% recycle rate. Even though vehicles aren’t often thought of as a renewable source of materials, Canadian Ford dealers have helped more than 69,500 customers recycle their ride since 2009.
Ford Canada’s Recycle Your Ride program contributes to reducing the overall environment strain and carbon footprint. If you have a 2008 or older model vehicle, Ford Canada, in conjunction with the Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC) will pay up to $2,500 towards buying or leasing a new vehicle. ARC reports that approximately 83% of an average vehicle’s weight can be recycled.
Recycling a vehicle has positive aspects such as:
– Reusing existing materials
– Saving natural resources
– Removing the number of higher polluting older cars off the road
– Reducing environmental strain and carbon footprint
Other than the occasional tire swing or garden planter, tires can be recycled and remade into many different things.
Rethink Tires, from Ontario, advocates further uses for tires to avoid reusable rubber ending up in a landfill. Instead, the rubber can be used to create useful and durable items such as: landscape tiles, rubber bricks, athletic/playground flooring, roof shingles, acoustic underlay, carpet pads, and then some.
Vehicles hazardous materials, along with mercury, must be carefully removed and responsibly managed. One such organization, named Switch Out, is a Canadian national program dedicated to removing, collecting and managing mercury from vehicles being recycled. Since Switch Out began, they’ve collected 690,651+ mercy switches. This type of focus reinforces the dedication required to make recycled vehicles safe and reduce environmental contamination.
After the interior of a recycled vehicle is stripped of re-usable parts, the body is then crushed and melted down for another use. Your old car could be the supporting beam used in a new building. Just imagine how many new structures, boats, or houses are being made from recycled vehicle metals.