SeptOct08 Automotive Recycling

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hen you think of recy-

cling in this day and age, most people immedi-

ately think of the milk cartons, newspapers, and

soda cans that make us all earth-friendly when

we set them aside in our weekly trash. We feel

good about helping the environment in some

small way. But what many may not realize is that

today’s cars are the most recycled consumer

items in the world.

This special report investigates the industry of

automotive recycling from its earliest begin-

nings, to current auto recycling methods and

issues, to forecasting future trends, all as it

relates to the consumer, therefore these articles

are written to speak to them directly. This is cer-

tainly not an exhaustive look at every detail of

the business, but merely our attempt to compile

information to make a statement about the use-

fulness of automotive recycling. We envision this

piece sitting on the counter of every automotive

recycling business to educate their customers on

the consumer benefits of auto recycling. We

hope it inspires auto recyclers to talk more about

the “green” value of recycling car parts to fur-

ther the growth of this valuable and much need-

ed global industry.

– Caryn Suko Smith, Editor

Automotive Recycling as an industry has been taking care of the environment
for over 65 years. Here is a look at its small beginnings, present day standards,
and the future growth of this now $10 billion a year industry.

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Green Report

a greener

world

FOR COPIES OF THIS SPECIAL REPORT, CONTACT THE AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLERS ASSOCIATION AT (703) 385-1001.

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he year was 1942,

and America was at war. Auto-
mobile production was at a
standstill as U.S. manufactur-
ing capacity was channeled
into the production of tanks,
ships, guns, and other imple-
ments of war. To feed the pro-
duction lines, the U.S. govern-
ment required a steady supply
of steel scrap. At the top of the
list of sources were the auto-

motive recyclers with their ready inventory of sal-
vage vehicles.

At the time, the automotive recycling industry was

barely 10 years old. The first recyclers had come on
the scene in the 1920s and 1930s, dismantling end-
of-life vehicles to sell for scrap. By the mid-1930s,
with the realization that the value of the parts on
these vehicles exceeded the scrap value, their focus
had shifted to selling recycled parts.

When the United States entered World War II,

automotive recyclers saw their role as supporting
the war by providing the parts to keep vehicles run-
ning while automobile production was halted. But
the federal government had other ideas, issuing a
mandate in 1943 that all salvage vehicles must be
converted to scrap for manufacturing.

To combat this directive, the auto recyclers band-

ed together to form the National Automobile
Wrecking Association (NAWA) and sent represen-
tatives to Washington, D.C., to negotiate on their
behalf. Although the names of those representa-
tives are lost in history, they were the first to be a
voice in Washington on behalf of automotive recy-

Introduction

By Ginny Whelan

In recent years, greener practices have become priority for businesses.

Of the world’s top 500 companies, 87 percent publish social responsibility
reports to address climate change.

According to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, “Auto recycling

is as old as the car itself.” This business uses green recycling as a firmly-
established business standard. Auto recyclers have known for years that
the best way to reduce liability and increase the bottom line is to recycle.

The current random acts of the “green business model” do not represent

the business standard for auto recyclers. They have decades of long-estab-
lished green standards. Our numbers are at the top, with 82 percent of the
vehicle being recyclable and even more impressive is that 95 percent of
the vehicles coming off the road are recycled. These are the best recycling
numbers in the world.

Automobiles are recycled for reuse sales, compliance, waste reduction,

and the environmental bottom line. Year-in, year-out, since the 1940s, the
auto recycling industry has provided a model of the most efficient green
business machine.

The international Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) has 65 years

of a successful green vision. In 1994, ARA members developed a green
group of auto recyclers called Certified Automotive Recyclers (CAR).
CAR has demonstrated environmental performance that goes beyond
regulatory requirements to include best management practices that help
protect the environment. Worldwide auto recycling associations have devel-
oped green programs based on this model. Working with regulatory depart-
ments, ARA has established ECAR (www.ecarcenter.org) to assist auto
recyclers in all the states with developing green compliance.

Educating the consumer about green auto recycling is the responsibility

of every automotive recycling business every day. Sales receipts printed for
a sold recycled auto part should thank the customer for improving the qual-
ity of the earth with each purchase. Every sales associate should thank the
customer for considering a business that sells green recycled auto parts
to protect the earth.

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Green Report

rear-view

mirror

By Lynn Novelli

Leading the American Way

of Environmental

Awareness and Reuse

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clers, a role that the Automotive
Recyclers Association (ARA) con-
tinues to fill to this day.

The NAWA representatives

won the day, successfully convincing
the Office of Price Administration
and the War Production Board that
recycled parts to keep old cars running
were as essential as scrap to support the war.
For the first time, the federal government was jolt-
ed into an awareness of the automotive recycling
industry and its contribution to the economy. Both
the Office of Price Administration and the War
Production Board recognized NAWA as the official
spokesperson for the burgeoning automotive recy-
cling industry.

History repeats itself, and it was less than 10 years

later that the scrap supply for a war became an issue
again, this time during the Korean War. By this
time, NAWA was firmly entrenched in its role as
industry spokesperson, and the federal government
approached the organization for assistance in plan-
ning for wartime scrap needs. NAWA responded by
organizing a committee to collaborate with Wash-
ington on providing a reasonable solution that
would support the war and maintain the recycling
industry’s livelihood.

A time of influence

Two significant events occurred after the Korean

War. The first was that the national War Production
Board presented NAWA with a certificate, recog-
nizing its contribution to the war. The second was
the rapid expansion of the automotive recycling
industry, brought on by the return of thousands of
war surplus vehicles to the United States.

By the mid-1950s, NAWA had changed its name

to the National Automobile and Truck Wrecking
Association (NATWA) to be more representative of
the industry. Around that same time, the federal
government wanted to curtail the shipment of war

salvage to the United

States. NATWA was able to

intervene to keep the vehicles

coming and the industry growing.

In 1959, the industry took another step forward

when the first Teletype machines appeared in recy-
cling yards. This was the beginning of an era of
unprecedented growth as the automotive recycling
industry achieved more widespread acceptance and
recognition for its economic, if not its environ-
mental, impact. NATWA undertook an aggressive
public relations campaign to promote the industry
to consumers, legislators, and key decision-makers
at the state and federal level through its own film-
strip,

Used Doesn’t Mean Used Up.

Environmental awakening

During this period, U.S. consumers lacked any

environmental awareness, and few understood the
ultimate impact of recycling vehicle components.
To most consumers, buying used parts was an eco-
nomic decision, not an environmental one, and the
neighborhood junkyard was a familiar part of the
urban landscape. The typical idea of a junkyard in
the mind of the consumers of the day was “an old
boy in bib overalls setting on a stool and beating
the copper out of an old engine with a couple of
mangy dogs roaming around,” says ARA veteran
and Past President Norman Dulaney, now 90.

Right or wrong, that was the popular image of the

industry when Lady Bird Johnson’s Keep America
Beautiful initiative swept across the country and the
media in 1965. According to a February 19, 1965,
Time magazine article about the Keep America
Beautiful campaign, “Also in for a sharp crackdown

Far left: Dismantling area of the early
days of auto recycling; Center: Example
of a modern parts storage area at
Carcone’s Auto Recycling, Aurora,
Ontario, Canada. Below: NATWA at
a trade show (1970s). Inset: NATWA
convention dinner attendees (1966).

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is a pet Johnsonian peeve – ‘unsightly, beauty-
destroying junkyards and auto graveyards along our
highways.’”

The article continued, “The litter of dead car car-

casses is bothering more and more civic groups,
such as the National Council of State Garden Clubs.
Minnesota’s Senator Eugene McCarthy has even
urged the use of excise taxes on gasoline to subsi-
dize the scrapping of cars. The trouble is twofold:
1) as population and incomes increase, more cars
are made, and they have ever shorter lives; 2) the
price of scrap metal has dropped as the steel indus-
try has converted from open-hearth furnaces,
which use up to 45 percent scrap metal, to oxygen
furnaces, which use only 27 percent scrap. The
price an auto wrecker gets for his scrap has fallen
to around $10 a car, with the result that many
wreckers have allowed car carcasses to pile up, in
hopes of a rise in the market.”

At the urging of Mrs. Johnson, Congress created

and President Johnson then signed the Highway
Beautification Act in 1965, one clause of which
required cost-sharing grants for screening or relo-
cating of automotive recycling operations away
from interstate and other major highways. This was
one of more than a dozen acts related to the envi-
ronment that were created during LBJ’s presiden-
cy, awakening the environmental consciousness of
Americans for the first time.

At the time, the laws seemed overly restrictive, but

looking back, 40 years later, recyclers now consid-

er the LBJ era as a turning point for the automo-
tive recycling industry. “[Lady Bird] drew a lot of
attention to salvage yards, and maybe she did us a
favor,” says Dulaney, who testified at the Keep
America Beautiful conference in Washington,
D.C., in 1965. “Recyclers were inspired to take
pride in their business as part of their communi-
ties.” The Highway Beautification Act also raised
awareness of the automotive recycling industry
among a new generation of Washington legislators
and bureaucrats.

Collaboration pays off

Scrap prices, as the

Time magazine article

described in 1965, stayed low for several years, and
thousands of junk vehicles were abandoned nation-
wide. “New England and parts of Michigan were
overrun with junk cars,” recalls Sol Toder, another
ARA Past President.

This eventually led to development of a Com-

merce Department advisory committee on scrap in
the mid-1960s, which published a report on the
problem in 1966. A Department of the Interior
1967 report,

Automobile Disposal, a National Problem,

detailed the results of a Bureau of Mines fact-find-
ing survey of the auto wrecking industry across the
country. At the time, Toder says, “Everyone thought
we’d go out of business. But actually, it did us a lot
of good.” NATWA responded with its own report
on automotive recycling that played a major role
in building a more positive reputation for the
industry.

NATWA continued to report to the Commerce

Department for the next several years with the goal
of collaborating to solve the junk vehicle problem.
Over the years, the constructive relationship bet-
ween the two groups continued to flourish. When
the steel industry raised the issue of contamination
of steel scrap by copper wire from automotive cir-
cuit boards, NATWA collaborated with the Com-
merce Department to persuade the auto industry
to convert to printed circuit boards that eliminated
the copper wire and enhanced their recyclability.

Modern era of automotive recycling

By 1970, the environmental movement was start-

ing to gain traction among middle-class Americans.
Eager to show their support for saving the Earth,
Americans celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970. By
this time, automotive recyclers, through NATWA,
had earned a reputation with state and federal gov-
ernments as an industry that promoted and pro-
tected the environment, and it was time to expand.

REPORT

In the 1970s, there was another push to modernize and
beautify auto recycling facilities. Wilbert’s, Inc., of Webster,
New York, exemplifies a facility that went through a facelift.

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The increased focus on the recycling aspects of

the industry lead to another name change for the
association in 1972, adopting the Association of
Auto and Truck Recyclers (AATR) as its official new
title. The 1970s saw some major changes in the
industry, the beginning of what many members
consider the modern era of automotive recycling.

As automotive recycling became more accepted

and more lucrative, salvage pools came on the
scene. These are middlemen who acquire vehicles
from insurance companies, dealers, and private
individuals and auction them to the highest bidder.
Pools forever changed the automotive recycling
industry, Toder says, pushing up prices for salvage
and adding a third party to the relationship
between auto recyclers and insurance companies.

Computers began to infiltrate the industry during

the late 1970s and early 1980s for inventory locator
services. “The old hoot ‘n’ holler system was done
for,” Dulaney recalls, describing the obsolete open-
line telephone system that recyclers once relied on
for locating parts. “Computers made it faster and
easier to see which yards had what you needed.”

To reflect broader perspectives, in 1977, AATR

became the Automotive Dismantlers and Recyclers
of America (ADRA), and in 1982, ADRA again
changed the name, adopting the Automotive
Dismantlers and Recyclers Association to reflect the
emerging global nature of the business.

Throughout this period, “the industry mostly

thought a single yard with a hands-on owner was the
way to go,” Toder states. By the mid-1980s, the
approach to the business started to change, and
multi-yard businesses and conglomerates devel-
oped. Competition for salvage was fierce and inde-
pendent recyclers united in buying groups of their
own, a trend that continued into the 1990s.

By 1993, conglomerates, salvage pools, and com-

puters were all a normal part of doing business. The
association made its last name change, becoming
the Automotive Recyclers Association – an interna-
tional trade association – and gaining recognition
as a significant player in the American environment
and global economy.

From those early days as mom-and-pop operators

who stripped usable parts from old cars and crush-
ed the hulk, automotive recyclers have developed
into sophisticated business people in a technology-
driven industry that maximizes the recycling value
of every vehicle and enhances the environment and
the economy in the process.

Lynn Novelli, a longtime contributor to

Automotive Recycling magazine, is

a freelance writer based in Ohio.

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hen the Florida

Department of Environmental Protection recog-
nized auto recycler Gardner Auto Parts in
Pompano Beach as a certified “Green Yard” and
“an environmental leader,” according to the depart-
ment’s Jack Long, it was hardly the only agency and
community recognizing the key role today’s auto
recyclers play in protecting the environment.

The Blackstone River Watershed Council in

Cumberland, Rhode Island, for example, recently
presented its “2008 Environmental Excellence
Award” to auto recycler Bill’s Auto Parts for its
“commitment to the environment and (protecting)
the Blackstone River in particular.” John Marsland,
of the Friends of the Blackstone, said that Paul
D’Adamo, president of Bill’s Auto Parts, “not only
talks the talk, he walks the walk,” in terms of envi-
ronmental efforts and that he “sets a great exam-
ple for individuals and businesses to follow.”

A county environmental task force had similar

praise for John’s Auto Parts in Blaine, Minnesota,
this past May when it presented a recycling recog-
nition award to the auto recycler (see sidebar, p. 38).

These awards and honors are the most recent

indications that a growing number of regulators
and consumers now realize that a hybrid vehicle is
not the only way to reduce a vehicle’s environ-
mental footprint. Auto recyclers are not only com-
plying with environmental regulations by
protecting the environment in their daily activities,
but their very work – facilitating the recycling and
reuse of virtually every part of more than 4 million
automobiles every year – is keeping these vehicles
out of landfills and providing motorists with a
green alternative when their vehicles need parts.

“A lot of people don’t think of buying a used

auto part as having something to do with recy-
cling,” said Shannon Nordstrom, vice president
and general manager of Nordstrom’s Automotive,
an automotive recycling business in Garretson,
South Dakota. “But if you are reusing the parts, you
don’t have to produce new ones. You don’t need
new raw materials. You don’t need the energy that
producing those new parts requires. Reuse is the
best kind of recycling there is.”

The process

It can be helpful to understand why using a recy-

cled automotive part has both financial and envi-
ronmental benefits for vehicle owners by getting a
behind-the-scenes look at how today’s auto recy-
cling industry operates. Often that process begins
with an unpleasant occurrence, an auto accident,
which happens to the typical driver on average of
once about every seven years.

“The recycling process may actually start at the

accident scene,” Nordstrom said. “The tow com-
pany or other responders are responsible for clean-
up of glass or automotive fluids expelled at the
scene, and that cleaned up material often ends up

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Green Report

rubber meets

road

By John Yoswick

Automotive Recycling Offers

Vehicle Owners Environmental

and Financial Benefits of “Reuse”

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back in the trunk of the vehicle for us as auto recy-
clers to process.”

If the insurance company declares that vehicle a

total loss, it goes to a salvage pool or auto auction,
which is where auto recyclers purchase their vehicles.

“We bring the vehicles we purchase at the salvage

pool  to  our  property,  and  at  that  point,
inventory  the  vehicle,  entering  into  our
computer system what parts on the vehicle
are saleable,” said Eric Schultz, chief finan-
cial  officer  with  AAA  Auto  Salvage  in
Rosemont, Minnesota.

From there, all fluids – oil, brake fluid,

transmission fluid, etc. – and anything
potentially hazardous are removed from
the vehicle, Schultz said. This includes:

• Removing and capturing the Freon or

air conditioning refrigerant, which can be
recycled for use in other vehicles, a process
for which recyclers’ technicians must meet
training and certification requirements.

• Draining transmission and brake fluids

along with oil, all of which Schultz’ com-
pany and many recyclers put to reuse in
waste oil burners to heat their company’s
buildings.

• Removing anti-freeze, which can be fil-

tered and sold for reuse.

• Removing the driveline or other parts

that contain fluids in order to be stored in
a way that prevents them from being
exposed to the elements and possible leakage into
soil or groundwater.

• Removing the battery, which if still good is stored

in an impervious covered container to prevent leak-
age of any acid until it is resold for use in another
vehicle. Unusable batteries are generally sold to an
EPA-registered buyer who can reclaim lead and
other reusable materials from the batteries.

• Removing and filtering gasoline or diesel fuel

for use in the auto recycler’s parts delivery vehicles.

• Selling tires in good condition for reuse. Scrap

tires  are  stored  in  a  way  that  prevents  rainwater
from collecting in them to avoid creating a breed-
ing  ground  for  mosquitoes.  Recyclers  generally
have to pay a fee to have scrap tires removed, but
such tires are reused for power plant fuel or recy-
cled  into  road  surface  material,  playground  and
sports arena surfaces, and even some auto parts.

In recent years, auto recyclers have also led a

national voluntary effort to remove “mercury
switches” from vehicles. Automakers no longer use
switches containing mercury, but they can still be
found in 2003 and older vehicles, often in the
switches that automatically turn on lights under the
hood or trunk lid when open.

The switches are not dangerous when in use, but

if not removed before a vehicle is crushed or melt-
ed in the recycling process, the mercury from the
switch could be released. It takes only a small
amount of mercury to contaminate drinking water
or reach unsafe levels in fish. Just four years ago,
the EPA said that about 13 million acres of lakes

Automotive Recycling Facts

More than 95 percent of end-of-life vehicles go through a

recycling process with no added costs or taxes to consumers,
making cars perhaps the most recycled product in the United
States.

More than 84 percent of a vehicle (by weight) is recycled.
In addition to those parts sold for reuse, recycled vehicles

go back into making new cars, roads, buildings, carpeting,
furniture, and other home products, including garden mulch.

Source: United States Council for Automotive Research’s Vehicle Recycling Partnership

SEDA Environmental, LLC demonstrates environmentally-safe fluid re-
covery from a dismantled car; inset, mercury pellets from a vehicle.

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and 750,000 miles of streams were so polluted with
mercury that eating too much fish from those
waterways could pose health problems for children
and for women during pregnancy.

Over the past several years, more than 6,600 auto

recyclers have removed more than 1.3 million mer-
cury switches containing nearly 3,000 pounds of
mercury, which is being recycled. The program
expects to top the 4-million switch mark by August
of 2009.

Once all fluids and hazardous materials are

removed,  Schultz  and  Nordstrom  said,  the  “dry
vehicle” is generally moved to their storage lots for
anywhere between a few weeks or, if a newer vehi-
cle, up to two years. During this time, fenders, doors,
and other sheet metal parts from the vehicles are
sold to autobody shops, repairing other vehicles that
have  been  in  accidents;  engines,  drivelines,  and
transmissions are sold to mechanical repair shops
servicing  vehicles;  and  everything  from  wheels  to
seats are sold to the general public working on their
own vehicles.

Such recycling saves an estimated 85 million bar-

rels of oil every year that would otherwise have been
used  in  the  manufacturing  of  new  parts.  It  saves
enough  steel  to  produce  almost  13  million  new
vehicles. “At the end of its lifecycle, what little is left
is flattened by a crusher and taken to a shredder,”
Nordstrom  said.  “Then  that  recycled  metal
becomes part of the process again.”

Shredding of 12 to 15 million vehicles each year

creates 15 to 19 million tons of recycled steel each
year,  according  to  the  United  States  Council  for
Automotive  Research.  Even  “shredder  fluff,”  the
plastics, foams, carpeting, and non-metal materials
left  from  the  vehicle  is  being  recycled  into  such
things as carpet padding.

Automotive Recycling
Definitions

ARA

Automotive Recyclers

Association is a non-profit international
trade association representing automo-
tive recyclers dedicated to the efficient
removal and reuse of automotive parts
and the safe disposal of inoperable
motor vehicles.

Aftermarket

Vehicle accessories

that are not fitted by the manufacturer.

Aftermarket parts

New parts that

replace damaged parts. They may be a
generic part.

Automotive recycling

The effi-

cient, ecological disposal of inoperable
motor vehicles and reclaiming reusable
parts and components.

Automotive recycler

A professional

who purchases vehicles for re-use.
Dismantles vehicles, collects, and dis-
poses of fluids in an environmentally
responsible fashion, tests salvageable
parts, classifies and prices them for sale,
and disposes of remaining vehicle hulk.

CAR

Certified Automotive Recycler.

A designation awarded by ARA to recy-
clers who meet a set of standards for

general business practices, and environ-
mental and safety issues.

Dismantle

To take a used vehicle

apart for the purpose of reclaiming
usable parts. Dismantling takes place
in a dismantling bay.

ECAR

Environmental Compliance for

Automotive Recyclers. ECAR Center is a
“one-stop shop” for all automotive dis-
mantling and recycling operations and
provides comprehensive and up-to-date
environmental compliance assistance.

Electronic parts

In late-model

vehicles. Includes electronic fuel or
ignition systems, computer boards.

ELV or End-of-Life Vehicle

Any

vehicle that is deemed for parts or
recycling only.

Fluid recovery system

The system

the automotive recycler has set up to
collect and recycle or dispose of the flu-
ids remaining in salvage vehicles in an
environmentally-responsible fashion.

Gold Seal Certification

Awarded

to professional members of the
Automotive Recyclers Association
who have completed the Certified
Automotive Recycler’s Program.
Recyclers must meet 27 categories

of requirements and agree to follow a
number of strict professional business
practices, rules, and regulations.

Hard parts

Any parts that are

hard, except the sheet metal.

Late model vehicles

Vehicles

produced within the last five years

LKQ parts

Like kind and quality.

Describes replacement parts that are
of the same quality as the original prior
to an accident. LKQ parts can be new,
OEM replacement, or recycled parts.

OEM

Original equipment manufac-

turer. Refers to parts that are made by
the vehicle’s manufacturer, such as
Ford or Honda, either new or recycled.

Parts car

A vehicle that is pur-

chased and dismantled for the recovery
of reusable parts.

Pre-dismantling

The step prior

to taking the parts off the car. At this
stage, the dismantler identifies those
parts that are in demand and orders
that they be taken off the car for
inventory.

Repairable

A vehicle that can be

fixed (repaired).

Rebuilder

An individual who

rebuilds a vehicle.

Recycled OEM parts

Quality OEM

Parts removed from Total Loss Vehicles
or ELV’s and sold to replace damaged
parts in running vehicles.

Remanufactured parts

Used hard

parts that have been reconditioned to
the same quality as new.

Replacement part

A part that

replaces a damaged part on a vehicle.
Can be new or recycled.

Salvage or automotive recycling

yard

Facility vehicles can be processed

for recycling.

Scrapped/destroyed

The Vehicle

has been reclaimed for its metal con-
tent.

Sheet metal

Exterior metal parts

such as doors, fenders, and hoods.

Totaled vehicle

A determination

made by an insurance company when
the cost of repair plus the salvage value
is greater than the car’s Blue Book
value.

Recycled parts

Parts removed

from a damaged vehicle and cleaned
or reconditioned to be sold to replace
parts on another, running vehicle
damaged in an accident.

VIN

Vehicle Identification Number.

REPORT

One Auto Recycler’s Stats

inning a recycling recognition award this past
spring from the Anoka County Solid Waste

Abatement Advisory Task Force was a nice pat-on-the-
back for the team at John’s Auto Parts in Blaine,
Minnesota. But Harold Haluptzok, president of the fami-
ly-run business, has been serious about maximizing envi-
ronmental efforts at the company for many years.

Its 2007 stats for what the company helped reuse or

recycle (and otherwise keep out of landfills) speak for
themselves: 505 tons of copper, aluminum, and steel;
204 tons of tires; 343 pounds of refrigerant; 450 mer-
cury-containing switches; 1,790 gallons of antifreeze;
3,275 used oil filters; 5,459 spent lead-acid batteries;
18,500 gallons of used oil; and 23,525 gallons of waste
gas and diesel fuel.

As part of its environmental efforts, the company even

advertises that it accepts for reuse, recycling, or proper
disposal used batteries and vehicle fluids from cus-
tomers – all at no charge.

While these efforts are impressive, Haluptzok said his

company is just representative of many in the auto recy-
cling industry that facilitate the reuse and recycling of
millions of vehicles every year.

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The benefits

Choosing recycled parts when having your vehi-

cle repaired is a green option in a number of ways,
say auto recyclers. Certainly, it will save you some
green in your wallet as the parts are generally far
less expensive than new yet often carry the same or
better warranty. But just as importantly, reuse of
automotive parts through a trained, certified auto
recycler makes good environmental sense.

“The minute you drive your vehicle off the lot, it’s

a used car,” recycler Schultz said. “Why put a brand
new part on a used car? Why not give the environ-
ment a break and reduce, among other things, the
number of pollutants going into the air to produce
all of those new parts.”

Unlike the curb-side recycling most households

now do, automotive recycling doesn’t cost you any
money as a driver or taxpayer, points out Joey
Woodfin, CEO of EverDrive, a Virginia-based com-

pany that helps make recycled automotive parts
available at 6,000 retail locations, such as AutoZone
and PepBoys.

“In fact, you save money by choosing a recycled

automotive part,” he said. “If one part on your vehi-
cle breaks down, there are still 17,499 other used
moving parts on it. Why buy one new part, espe-
cially if you can save money on a guaranteed used
one and in the process help the environment by
saving the world 85 million barrels of oil per year.”

“It reuses an existing resource, saving all the orig-

inal resources that would have to go into making
that  new  part,”  agreed  Mike  James  of  James
Environmental Management, a Texas-based com-
pany  that  provides  environmental  compliance
assistance  to  more  than  1,000  auto  recyclers  and
scrap metal companies. “I think auto recycling and
recyclers represent the heart of what environmen-
talism is all about.”

Finding a green recycler

Now that you are ready to utilize automotive recy-

cling as it is intended, and you need used parts for
your vehicle, how do you find a green recycler?
Well, you want to ensure the automotive or auto-
body shop working on your car is choosing parts
from an environmentally compliant recycler. The
best way to guarantee this is to look for the Certified
Automotive Recycler (CAR) certification.

The CAR program was created in 1994 by the

Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) to facili-
tate  and  recognize  auto  recyclers  with  safety  and
environmental  compliance.  CAR  recyclers,  for
example, participate in the voluntary national effort
to remove mercury-containing light switches from
vehicles  to  prevent  the  mercury  from  being
released into the environment.

“Customers of CAR certified recyclers can be

assured that the companies they are dealing with
are  committed  to  ensuring  their  vehicles  are  dis-
mantled according to the industry’s highest envi-
ronmental  and  safety  standards,”  according  to
Michael E. Wilson, ARA Executive Vice President.
“When choosing to purchase from a CAR facility,
you  are  ensuring  protection  to  the  environment
and helping to promote safe and responsible busi-
ness practices.”

For more information and a list of CAR recyclers,

visit the ARA Web site (www.a-r-a.org) or call the
association at (888) 385-1005.

John Yoswick is a freelance writer in Portland, OR, who has been writing
about the automotive industry since 1988. He can be contacted by e-mail
at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

REPORT

Recyclers and EPA Form a Partnership

to Protect the Environment

n some industries, business and federal regulators have
almost an adversarial role. Not so among auto recyclers.

Since 2002, for example, the Automotive Recyclers

Association (ARA) has partnered with the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency (EPA) to create and maintain
a Web site that would provide auto recyclers with a one-
stop approach to environmental compliance information
and help.

The Environmental Compliance for Automotive Recyclers

(ECAR) Center Web site (www.ecarcenter.org) provides
useful, up-to-date assistance to help auto recyclers protect
the environment and comply with regulations.

The site attracts more than 200,000 visitors annually.
“ARA is at the forefront of providing information

designed to enable safe and environmentally-responsible
working conditions for the professional automotive recy-
cling industry,” ARA President Sandy Blalock said of the
ECAR Center. “We recognize the industry’s real need for
breakdowns of state-by-state and federal requirements
that apply specifically to our industry’s activities.”

Removing a

mercury switch

from a vehicle.

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s fuel prices continue to rise and

going green gains global momen-

tum, the Automotive Recyclers

Association (ARA) brings over

65 years of environmental con-

sciousness to the automotive

recycling industry as it con-

tinues to lead the way into a

greener future.

ARA has been at the

forefront of trans-

forming the auto-

motive recycling

industry  and  establishing  green  groups,  such  as
Certified  Automotive  Recyclers  (CAR),  which
ensure  that  environmental  performance  goes
beyond  regulatory  requirements.  This  includes
helping  auto  recyclers  to  establish  best  manage-
ment practices that help protect the environment.

As consumers turn to more cost effective cars in

the future and auto manufacturers continue to
introduce alternative fuel vehicles, the auto recycler
of the future will become diversified.

“I believe that the future of auto recycling is head-

ing down a path to become a more business diver-
sified, Internet-driven market,” said Dave Barzoff,
general manager of B Auto Parts located minutes
from downtown St. Louis, Missouri. “The consumer
benefits include recycling facilities that will carry a
more  diversified  inventory,  such  as  refinished
wheels,  remanufactured  drivetrain  components,
and  aftermarket  parts.  Some  recyclers  will  even
offer services, such as body and mechanical repair.”

Ginny Whelan, ARA Educational Foundational

President and ARA Past President agrees that con-

sumers’ choices in automobiles will help shape the
future business of auto recyclers and cause them to
become diversified.

“The consumer who once bought locally now

uses the Internet, and will continue to do so in the
future, to define the availability and price of recy-
cled auto parts,” said Whelan. “As the customer’s
automobile purchases and driving needs change,
so does the auto recycling business.

“Future auto recyclers will be impacted by the

shift to cleaner-burning, high-energy fuel source
automobiles and the building of an infrastructure
of alternative fuels. The infrastructure required for
End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) processing will require
advance technical education.”

As consumer trends indicate a continued rise in

the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, such as
hybrids or electric cars, the automotive recycling
industry will diversify even more. They will help to
protect the environment by reducing waste and
the need to use natural resources to create new
auto parts.

The car fuel of the future will be a mixture of bat-

tery, electric, hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels, and
compressed air. The car body will offer new mate-

Aut

omotive Recy

clin

Green Report

fast

lane

By Michelle Keadle-Taylor

Automotive Recycling Industry

is Poised to Zoom into the Future

& Consumers Reap the Benefits

Dismantling the car of the future will require more special-
ized training to handle all the high-tech operating systems.

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rials and shapes. The shape-shifting lightweight car
will transform its size. The car brain will feature a
powerful  computer  that  will  provide  green  data,
such  as  a  universal  data  scan  that  contains  the
Vehicle  Identification  Number  (VIN),  assembly
part  types,  vehicle  history,  part  recyclability,  sus-
tainability, and ELV data.

“The automotive recycling plant of 2030 will be

designed for fuel station distributions,” said

Whelan. “They will have departments for
resale, which will include powerful com-
puter  auto  brains,  high-definition
screens, speech recognition technology,
digital  cameras,  navigation  equipment,
nano  storage  tanks,  and  plastic  motors
driven by light and nano lens.

“Auto recyclers will sell recycled fuel

components. They will also be able to
recycle the body and brain of these cars,
which will not only protect our natural
energy sources but enable the consumer
to buy quality recyclable parts for their

alternative fuel vehicles at a fraction of the cost of
a new one.”

David Gold, vice president of Standard Auto

Wreckers in Ontario, Canada, says that future gen-
erations of auto recyclers genuinely care about the
environment and are taking recycling further by
“re-using” auto parts.

“Younger generation auto recyclers are passion-

ate about terms, such as recycled and we try to take
it one step further and make it the three “R’s”:
Reduce … Reuse … Recycle,” said Gold. “Reuse is
one step ahead of recycling in this equation. Re-using
parts means that there is less of a need to use our
precious natural resources to make new parts as well
as less energy and effort required to make new parts
when used parts are incorporated into the repair.
We want consumers to embrace our parts because
of this and the great savings they experience.

“Consumers, now and in the future, will be able

to purchase recycled auto parts and be confident
that they are of great quality at affordable prices.
Many progressive auto recyclers offer extended war-
ranties and product guarantees that rival new parts.
Consumers  can  order  parts  online  and  have  the
parts  shipped  to  the  mechanic’s  garage  directly.
Increasingly, auto recyclers have photos and digital
images of all of their salvage online, and they have
the ability to e-mail pictures very easily, helping to
reduce return  rates and  problems  and  to ensure
there are no surprises on delivery. This will improve
even more as technology advances further.”

ARA University Leading the Way

he Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) has a long history of being
at the cutting edge of education. In 1968, it founded the ARA
Educational Foundation to provide advanced educational programs for

its members. ARA members are major proponents in establishing green busi-
ness practices and “green” groups, such as Certified Auto Recyclers (CAR).
CAR has demonstrated environmental performance that goes beyond regu-
latory requirements, thus raising the bar for other recyclers. CAR has attract-
ed worldwide attention and led to environmental certifica-
tion programs in the United States and Worldwide.

ARA continues to be at the leading edge of education

with its ARA University – a Web-based virtual training
campus developed by the ARA Educational Foundation.
The ARA University, an on-line platform, provides training
for today’s employees and the future workforce. Modules
for inventory specialist, sales associates, dismantlers, and
environmental and legal compliance are currently avail-
able. Other modules are being developed.

ARAU allows a company to enroll employees to study

and test at their own pace – at work or at home – with
the training available 24/7. The cost for an ARA member is
$49.95 per month for ten employees. The cost for non-
members is $99.95 per month for ten employees.

The curriculum, which is accessed with a user name and password, is pre-

sented in short chapters. A student can do one or more at a time, depending
on what they want. It utilizes flash, a program that mixes text with pop-up
pictures of parts and other images coming in from the sides. There is also a
presenter to add the human feel to the learning segments.

At the end of each segment there is a test. The student doesn’t advance

until he or she is totally comfortable with knowing the material. Also, yard
owners and managers have the ability, by time stamp and test scores, to
monitor an employee’s training.

“Now an employer has the ability to know that the employee actually

spent the time, finished the module, and gained comprehension of the mate-
rial,” said Ginny Whelan, ARA Educational Foundation President.

Whelan also said that as alternative fuel vehicles and other cars of the

future become more sophisticated, the more important education becomes.

“Education for auto recyclers about environmentally-sound management

practices, technical dismantling, and consumer market growth will mandate
quality training,” said Whelan. “One of the most valuable benefits of the
ARA University is its ability to deliver consistent training. The overall goal of
the University is to populate the industry with training for all the specialties
within auto recycling, including the sales and labor aspects.”

One of ARAU’s biggest fans, Jim Butler of Butler Auto Recycling, Inc., cur-

rently uses the training and sees it as a necessary tool for the future of auto
recycling. “If an automotive recycler is interested in being competitive in the
future,” said Butler, “it’s going to be critical that they standardize what they
are doing when it comes to training of all their inventory and sales people.
This is the best way I’ve seen yet to do this.”

Whelan predicts that in ARAU’s future is to become training for high school

level trade students to prepare for a career in auto recycling (see career side-
bar, p. 46). If you would like to learn more, please contact Ginny Whelan at
ginnyaraeducation@comcast.net or visit www.arauniversity.com.

REPORT

GREENREPORT:AR_GREEN REPORT 2008 10/10/08 10:02 AM Page 20

Inventory Specialist & Parts Grading

Legal Compliance

Motivation with DJ Harrington

Healthy Family Business

Forklift Training (RTFL)

Core Processing for More Sales

Stormwater Sampling

Removing and Recycling

Mercury Switches

Hybrid Training

HazMat Training

Leadership Training

PLUS Updated Web site!

Subscribe online today at

www.arauniversity.com

or call 954.202.6969

Special ARA member discount

Better training and better skills will give you a better business.

C
U
T

N
G

D
G
E
E

D
U
C
A

O
N

O
R
A

U
T

O
M
O
T

E
R

C
Y

C
L

ARA U TRAINING

AIIZ

It’s an easy and accessible way to train and enhance the

knowledge of your employees without having to spend

thousands on seminars and corporate trainers.

Track and Train every employee everyday,

24/7 365 days a year unlimited access

to a unique blend of Web-based training with

incredible resources unparalleled in the industry.

GREENREPORT:AR_GREEN REPORT 2008 10/14/08 1:27 PM Page 21

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Make a Career in

Automotive Recycling

mages of broken-down, rusted old cars piled in mile high heaps
alongside the highway are what come to mind to many of us
when we think about automotive recycling. Images of junkyards
still confuse the general public when it comes to the industry.

The truth is that the automotive recycling industry has known what

many of us have not until more recently – and that is that automo-
tive recycling conserves energy and resources (both natural and man-
ufactured), contributes to maintaining a clean, non-polluted environ-
ment, and reduces consumer out-of-pocket costs for parts and liabili-
ty insurance.

Auto recyclers have led the way to establishing green standards

and boast the best recycling numbers in the world: 82 percent of a
vehicle can be recycled and an even more impressive 95 percent of
all vehicles coming off the road

are recycled. In short,

automotive recycling has silently led what is now con-
sidered a trendy movement – being green. The
increase in awareness and popularity of this industry
makes a career in automotive recycling a good choice.

“It is a mindset shift,” said Whelan. “If a child

comes home and says I want to be an auto recycler,
I’m sure a parent will gulp and say, “You want to
work in a junkyard?” But if they start to see it as an
educational choice for a student who may choose
auto mechanics or auto repair or auto sales and all
the sudden has the opportunity to look at a career in
auto recycling, they may be more enthusiastic.

“A skilled sales person with experience, on average in the industry,

with commission base can earn as much as $85,000 per year. That’s a
nice number, and I don’t think anyone knows that the potential is
there.”

Here are some of the jobs in the automotive recycling industry that

make good career choices:

Auto Recycler

Dismantler Specialist:

Disassembles inventory vehicles in sections

or individual parts for inventory and sales.

Material and Safety Compliance Specialist:

Responsible for

environment, insurance, and safety compliance.

Drivers:

Operators of recyclers’ fleet, delivery trucks, and heavy

equipment.

Inventory Specialist:

Responsible for inventory process, including

parts descriptions, code assignments, and parts grading. This person
also handles inventory maintenance, inventory audits, and bulk
inventory.

Owner/CEO/President:

Many current owners in the recycling

business went straight into the business out of high school or college
and worked in various positions before becoming the owner or CEO
of the yard. This person is responsible for overall decisions concerning
the direction of the business.

Office Staff

Accounting and Finance:

Various roles are

available, including bookkeeping, payroll, and

other jobs relating to the financial running of the business.

Business Administration:

Responsible for the running and adminis-

tration of the office and business.

Human Resources:

Deal with staffing and personnel issues and

management.

Information Technology:

Responsible for computers and

Internet/Web site Management, which handle plant management,
management systems, customer service management, personnel
management, parts supply, parts pricing, and marketing.

Production Associate:

Responsible for warehouse and vehicle

holding areas as well as maintaining rack inventory, core inventory,
vehicle storage, and end-of-life vehicles.

Production Associate Assistant:

Pull individual part orders and

prepare cores and end-of-life vehicles for market.

Sales Associates:

Responsible for auto part sales to recyclers,

collision repairers, mechanical repairers, and retail and Internet cus-
tomers. Also handles all sales transactions and extended warranties.

Inventory Purchase Specialist:

Buyer of vehicle and parts inventory.

Shipping Specialist:

Responsible for delivery of automotive parts.

If you would like to learn more about any of these great career

positions or more about certification through ARAU, please contact
Ginny Whelan at ginnyaraeducation@comcast.net and visit the
ARAU Web site at www.arauniversity.com.

REPORT

Dismantlers from
AAA Auto Salvage
in Rosemont,
Minnesota, and
Standard Auto
Wreckers in Ontario,
Canada (inset).

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The Consumer and the Industry Future

The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) is

fighting for the consumer through various legisla-
tive measures that aim to protect the consumer in
the future and save them money too. For example,
did you know that the ARA has been lobbying
Congress to pass legislation that will stop cars that
have been totaled from being shipped out of the
country and re-sold under a different vehicle iden-
tification number?

This is important to the consumer because it aims

to keep unsafe vehicles from re-entering the roads
and possibly endangering lives.

Anthony Livingston, Director of ARA’s Govern-

ment Affairs, says that what ARA is doing today
directly influences the future of automotive recy-
cling.

“The future of the automotive recycling industry

from a consumer’s perspective will depend heavily
on Congress’ actions and reactions toward con-
sumer, industry, and environmental implications,”

said Livingston. “There are positive and negative
factors that will have a direct impact on consumer
spending, awareness, and compliance factors.”

Here are some of the issues that ARA is pursuing

on behalf of the industry and the consumer:

Total Loss Disclosure

The Total Loss Disclosure legislation requires

public  disclosure  of  the  Vehicle  Identification
Numbers  from  vehicles  determined  to  have  suf-
fered  damage  resulting  in  significant  fair  market
value loss. All total loss vehicles and history will be
reported,  posted,  and  made  available  to  a  con-
sumer before a purchase is made.

The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair

Modern cars and light trucks contain advanced

technology that monitors or controls virtually every
function of the vehicle. Car owners and indepen-
dent shops need full access to the information, parts
and tools necessary to accurately diagnose, and

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repair or re-program these systems. Vehicle manu-
facturers are making access to such vital information
increasingly difficult to obtain for the independent
aftermarket and its customers. Without access to crit-
ical information, parts, and tools, motorists are
forced to patronize new car dealerships, which may
not be convenient or easily accessible to a car owner.

European Directive

A multinational partnership of 27 European

nations created a law to dispose of end-of-life vehi-
cles. The goals are to reduce material deposits in
landfills, maximize recyclable material, and provide
an easy way for consumers to dispose of vehicles.
The United States is observing this disposal process
with the possibility of modeling the European

Directive if proven to be positive for consumers,
recyclers, and the environment.

Unlicensed Dismantlers

Unlicensed dismantlers are picking up vehicles

and delivering them to scrap processors without
adhering to established industry standards.

National Motor Vehicle Title Information System

The National Motor Vehicle Title Information

System (NMVTIS) is a system that allows an elec-
tronic means to verify and exchange titling, brand,
and  theft  data  among  all  states’  motor  vehicle
administrators, law enforcement officials (including
Mexico and Canada), prospective purchasers, and
insurance carriers. NMVTIS also allows state titling
agencies  to  verify  the  validity  of  ownership  docu-
ments  before  they  issue  new  titles.  NMVTIS  also
checks to see if the vehicle is reported stolen, and
if so, the states don’t issue the new titles. Brands are
not lost when the vehicle travels from state to state
because NMVTIS keeps a history of all brands ever
applied by any state to the vehicle.

Consumers be aware

Consumers must be concerned with all these

issues at hand. They impact every person, whether
in issues of the economy, safety, crime, or the envi-
ronment.

For more information on automotive recycling

and its positive benefits, contact ARA at (888) 385-
1001, or visit www.a-r-a.org.

Michelle Keadle-Taylor is a freelance writer based in Northern Virginia.

The Automotive Recyclers Association Fast Facts

ince 1943, the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) is an interna-
tional trade association that has represented an industry dedicated to
the efficient removal and reuse of automotive parts and the safe dis-

posal of inoperable motor vehicles.

ARA services approximately 1,000 member companies through direct

membership and over 2,000 other companies through our affiliated chapters
as well as suppliers of equipment and services to this industry. ARA is the only
trade association serving industry in 12 countries internationally.

ARA aims to further the automotive recycling industry through various ser-

vices and programs to increase public awareness of the industry’s role in con-
serving the future through automotive recycling and to foster awareness of
the industry’s value as a high quality, low cost alternative for the automotive
consumer. ARA encourages aggressive environmental management programs
to assist member facilities in maintaining proper management techniques for
fluid and solid waste materials generated from the disposal of motor vehicles.

REPORT

• Quality recycled parts at affordable prices.
• Progressive auto recyclers (those at the industry’s highest level)

operate under a common standard created by the ARA to monitor
and ensure best environmental practices. A list of CAR certified
businesses is at www.a-r-a.org/AF_memberdirectory.asp, select
“CAR Program Participant” for a list.

• Recycling cars and alternative fuels of the future will mean using

less energy and precious natural resources to make new parts.

• Reduce costs.
• Convenient use of the Internet to purchase top-quality recycled

auto parts.

• Recycling facilities offer a more diversified inventory, such as refin-

ished wheels, remanufactured drivetrain components, and aftermar-
ket parts.

• Auto recyclers are the only group that is well-equipped for properly

processing end-of-the-life vehicles, the extraction of Freon, and the
removal of mercury switches that is a requirement for progressive
auto recyclers, which protects individuals and the environment.

What can you make from recycled cars?

Below are just a few examples of what becomes of various car parts
when they are recycled at the end of their life.

Windshields and Auto Glass:

Asphalt filler; Spun into fiberglass;

Glass beads; Reflective additive; Architectural aggregate; Ground for
abrasives; Backing to carpet; And, a line of products, including wine
glasses and glass lamps, made specifically from recycled windshields.

Oil Filters (Steel):

Recycling all the filters sold

annually in the United States would result in the
recovery of about 160,000 tons of steel or
enough steel to make 16 new stadiums the size
of Atlanta’s Olympic Stadium. Products include
new steel products, such as cans; Household
appliances including refrigerators, washers and
dryers; Construction materials; Flat rolled steel
sheets; Concrete reinforcement; Structural

beams; New cars and car parts, even new oil filters.

Information above from http://earth911.org/automotive/what-happens-next-to-miscellaneous-car-parts/.

Consumer Benefits of Auto Recycling

From Old Car to New Refrigerator?

itr

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