Return Trip: How to Recycle the Family Car

Posted: 17-Jul-2002; Updated: 15-Aug-2007

If you live in the U.S. and are over 18, chances are you drive an automobile. That's because, like it or not, you probably don't have much of a choice. Except in a few big cities with mass transit systems, you simply "can't get there from here" without a car.

Yet the 183 million motor vehicles in this country (36% of the worldwide total) are a major cause of environmental problems. Running on gasoline or diesel fuel, they pollute the air with their exhaust, and they are one of the largest sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary "greenhouse gas" leading to global warming.

What can an ordinary driver do about it? Fortunately, a lot. Try to minimize your driving. Car pool. Choose a high-mileage vehicle and maintain it for maximum efficiency. Support alternative fuels, automobile-free zones, car pool express lanes, mass transit alternatives and electric-powered vehicles. Perhaps less obviously, you can also recycle most of what goes into building and running your motor vehicle. Here are some suggestions to help you get started.

Your Antifreeze, Please

Used antifreeze is often poured down the drain or on the ground Yet one of its components, ethylene glycol, is poisonous to children and pets, who are attracted by its sweet taste. Ethylene glycol can also contaminate groundwater. Although antifreeze can be re-distilled, not many companies are doing it yet.

• If you drain your own antifreeze, put it into a clean, tightly sealed container. Try to find a service station or hazardous waste facility that will store it for periodic recycling (there may be a charge). As a last resort, flush it down your drain with plenty of water--but only if your home is connected to a municipal sewage system; antifreeze can overwhelm a home septic tank.
• If a service station drains your radiator, make sure they plan to arrange for recycling or proper disposal.

Maintaining Your Cool

Automobile air conditioners were once the single largest source of CFC's that harm the ozone layer. New cars no longer use CFC's, but if you take an older car in for its air conditioner to be serviced, be sure the garage uses a CFC recovery system called a "vampire." The "vampire" pumps the refrigerant out of the compressor and cleans it for reuse while the air conditioner is being repaired. These systems are now required under the 1990 Clean Air Act for all garages.

• Make sure the garage that services your car's air conditioner uses a "vampire." If not, take your business to another garage.
• Report garages that are violating the law to: Belinda Breidenbach (EN-341 W), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460.
• For more information call EPA's stratospheric ozone hotline at 1-800-296-1996.

Get the Lead Out

Classified by EPA as a hazardous substance, lead can cause brain damage, particularly in fetuses and preschool children. More than 70% of the lead now used in the U.S. is found in automobile batteries (about half of the battery's weight--an average of 19 pounds--is lead). Battery recycling has been well-established for years, but at least 10% of used batteries still end up stored in garages, dumped in the open or incinerated. In 1989 an estimated 138,000 tons of automobile battery lead was discarded this way.

• Take your used battery back where you bought it. Service stations and retail stores that sell batteries often take them back (in today's scrap market they are worth about $2 each).
• Some retail chains have been offering rebates on used batteries for years. When you buy a new one, read the fine print; you may have some money coming. Also, look for batteries with black plastic casings, the ones most likely to be made from recycled plastic.

Tires to Spare

Every year, 240 million tires are scrapped in the U.S., adding to the estimated two to three billion now littering the landscape. Tire dumps are ideal breeding grounds for rats and mosquitoes and are fire hazards (burning, they release toxic chemicals into the air and produce an oil-like residue that can contaminate groundwater).

Today's tires are chemically complex but highly recyclable. Besides retreads, which reuse 38 million tire casings annually, scrap tires are recycled into a variety of products--from tug boat fenders to rubber paving. Still, only about 27% of waste tires are reused or recycled. The main problem is economic. Processing costs more than dumping.

• When buying new tires, choose long life models.
• Follow proper inflation, balancing and rotation practices and keep your car's front end in alignment to extend the life of your tires. (You'll also save gas; low tire pressure alone wastes over two million gallons of gasoline in the U.S. every day.)
• When you replace your tires, choose a dealer who will properly handle their disposal.

Unspoiled Oil

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that 120 million gallons of used motor oil are thrown away each year in the U.S. by do-it-yourselfers. Most of this oil (roughly equivalent to 11 Exxon Valdez oil spills) is dumped on the ground or into sewers or put into containers and placed in the trash. Used oil contains dangerous chemicals and heavy metals, and the amount from a single oil change can permanently ruin a million gallons of fresh water. And oil is a natural for recycling. Although some is burned as fuel oil, it can also be efficiently re-refined into valuable high-grade lubricating oil.

• If you change your own oil, drain your crankcase into a clean, sealed container. Be careful not to contaminate it with other liquids. Contact your local or state government for the nearest service station or recycling center that will accept used oil. If you don't know who to call, write to the U.S. EPA address below.
• If a service station changes your oil, ask the manager whether it will be recycled (in some states this is mandated by law). If not, choose another station after explaining why you are doing so.
• Whenever possible, buy oil made from re-refined base oil. Make sure it has an SG or SH rating from the American Petroleum Institute (API). Although several major oil companies are reported to be readying products using re-refined oil, it is now only available as "Enviroil" at AM-PM Mini Marts at ARCO service stations or as "America's Choice" at Wal-Mart Stores.

The Whole Shebang

In 1989 about 7 million automobiles were produced in the U.S., but over 9 million were scrapped. Most cars are recycled by junk yards for profit, and the business accounts for one third of U.S. steel scrap.

• If your car "dies," make sure it ends up with an auto wrecker, who will strip it of usable parts and resell them. What remains of the car is shredded and separated into ferrous metals (iron and steel), non-ferrous metals (zinc, aluminum, copper and brass) and "fluff' (seat cushions, carpeting, dashboard, various plastics, etc.). The metals are sold to be remelted in this country or abroad. So far there is no market for the "fluff," which is sent to landfills.

1994  |  Environmental Defense Fund