Allowing your old or totaled car to be dismantled and become an automotive organ donor at a wrecking yard has many beneficial considerations. First of all, it takes the clunker off your hands and prevents it from being an eyesore that sits unused and unwanted in your driveway or backyard. Second of all, it helps to promote environmental awareness and takes steps toward a less damaged earth. Auto dismantling involves the removal of all salvageable and recyclable parts of a vehicle and the proper disposal of any fluids that are left behind that could be harmful to the environment. Though it may sound easy and look like a fun DIY project, there are several reasons you should leave auto dismantling to the professionals.
Salvaging Parts
You may tinker around with cars in your spare time, but the trained eye of an auto dismantler will know exactly what to look for in a part that determines whether it can be salvaged and reused or whether it should be put in the recycling bin.
Toxic Chemical Disasters
You probably don’t think about it much, but all the fluids that combine together in a vehicle to make it run can be a great threat to both you and the environment. During the auto dismantling process, those fluids need to be removed carefully. If done at home, there is a potential for your water supply to be contaminated and the greenery surrounding your home to be poisoned. There is also the danger of your skin coming into direct contact with the toxic chemicals, resulting in damage.
Air bags
Air bags are placed in automobiles to protect you from other things that may impact your body and cause more damage during a crash, but if you’ve never felt the force of one being deployed it’s certainly something you can live without. While dismantling a car, it’s very possible to unexpectedly deploy an air bag and cause serious injury, so it’s a risk you should carefully consider and try to avoid.
Electrocution/Fire
We all know how careful we’re supposed to be around electrical sources, and a car battery is no exception. A charged battery carries the chance for electrocution, and if you’re trying your own hand at auto dismantling, you could also unintentionally create a circuit that causes an electrical fire. Nearby fluids could then become ignited and a catastrophe could unfold.
Other Risks
At some point it will become time to crawl underneath the car to be dismantled to continue removing parts piece by piece, and any time you find yourself beneath a few tons of metal you’re in danger of getting trapped if gravity decides to work against you. A tire may pop, the jack may give out or a loose part may fall out and land in just the right place to cause major hurt. Not using the appropriate tools, or not using them correctly, can also put you in jeopardy of harming yourself.
Auto dismantling takes very careful and precise work. With all the potentially hazardous parts that need to be removed, it isn’t something that can be hurried. A skilled dismantler will have the ability to get the job done accurately, ensuring that no salvageable part gets left behind and nothing unnecessarily ends up in our landfills.
My name is Tiffany Olson and I live in Redding, CA. I blog on a myriad of topics including commercial recycling, auto dismantling, and auto insurance. When I recently had to make a choice about what to do with my old clunker I called Bulldog Recycling. They do scrap metal recycling and auto dismantling in Redding.
