Environmental Benefits of Car Donation

November 21, 2014
Posted By Vets Vehicles

A little known fact about car donation is that it’s actually one of the most environmentally responsible ways to get rid of your old car.

The oldest cars on the road are also some of the most environmentally-polluting. These vehicles are known as End-Of-Life-Vehicles (ELVs) and they include cars over 20 model years old, with poor gas mileage and exhaust. A California study estimates that these cars account for 75 percent of all pollution from cars on the road today.

When you donate your car, you’re actually helping the environment by getting it off the road and also contributing to the the recycled materials used to produce newer, more efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicles. 75% of a car’s materials can be recycled. Most of this is steel, which doesn’t lose its strength when it’s recycled — it can be recycled over and over again and it always comes back the same material.

When you donate your car to Vets Vehicles, you’re not only benefiting veterans charities but also the environment.

Here’s what happens when you donate your End-Of-Life-Vehicle to us:

1. Your end of life vehicle is first towed away and brought to a recycling facility that removes hazardous materials including: fluids, rubber, reusable parts, which are removed manually and the vehicle is then crushed for ease of transport to a scrap yard.
2. At the scrap yard, the vehicle is shredded and separated into usable and non-usable materials and re-usable metals are brought (most times by barge) to larger steel recycling facilities.
3. At the steel recycling facility, shredded metals are separated by a giant magnet that picks up iron and steel. Fluff and non-ferrous metal, which are not magnetized are removed and disposed of.
4. Depending on the type of facility, the steel is then processed in blast furnaces or in electric arc furnaces and mini-mills (the newest technology), going on to produce new steel products for the consumer marketplace.

Watch the video below produced by our vehicle processing partners at ARS (Advanced Remarketing Services). They’re experts at recycling and selling donated cars to get the highest revenue possible for our veterans charities.