Whether it doesn’t run anymore or fixing it would be more than it’s worth, a junk car sitting on your property is a nuisance and potential hazard. If you aren’t sure what to do with a vehicle you don’t want, learn more about the benefits of selling it to a salvage yard. Use this guide to discover a few ways that salvaging your old car will benefit the environment.

How Do Salvage Yards Help the Environment?

1. Handle Toxic Substances Safely

Fluids like oil, battery acid, and brake fluid can cause sickness or death in plant and animal life if they’re allowed to seep into the soil or water supply. These substances can also have detrimental health effects on humans, such as skin rashes and respiratory irritation.

At salvage lots, professionals dispose of these substances safely and according to local and state regulations. Sometimes, the fluids can even be reused in other cars to reduce waste.

2. Reuse the Parts

Just because your junk car doesn’t run doesn’t mean every part is broken. The salvage lot will test and remove parts that are working and in demand, like starters, catalytic converters, tires, and alternators.

This saves functioning parts from sitting in a landfill while also reducing demand for manufacturing entirely new parts, which takes a toll on the environment. Components of your car that you may not think of as useful, like the floor mats and hood ornaments, may be sold or reused, too.

3. Recycle the Metal

Once usable parts have been removed from the junk car, there will be a fair amount of scrap metal left behind. Metal manufacturing is damaging to the environment, as it requires fossil fuels for mining, creation, and shipping.

By recycling scrap metal from junk cars, salvage yards reduce the demand for new metal manufacturing, allowing the industry to produce less new metal and have less of an impact on the earth. Recycled metal can be used to create new cars, household appliances, car parts, tools, containers, and cans.

If you are interested in salvaging your junk car, contact T&S Automotive in Thomasville, NC. This facility has over 20 years of experience in ethical salvaging, metal recycling, and used parts sales. They’ll buy cars 10 years or older without a title and offer convenient pickup services. Learn more online, and call (336) 882-7989 for information on their competitive pricing.