How to Make Sure Your Junked or Donated Car Doesn’t Do More Harm Than Good

• Auto recycling “gets cleaner and greener every year, for both environmental and economic reasons,” said Joe Hearn, CEO of SHiFT, a new company from Middletown, Rhode Island.

• Each year, eight to nine million tons of automobile waste is generated in the European Union, and 25% of that is hazardous.

• “SHiFT is trying to guarantee the best environmental outcome. We only work with recyclers that have the highest green rating,” Hearn said.

If you decide to donate your car to charity, the process is swift. Often, the next day a tow truck shows up and takes it away, leaving you with a tax deduction.

Unless the car is still fully functional and ready to go back on the road, the next step is generally the local junkyard, or recycler as they prefer to be called these days. What happened to the car after that? Chances are high you’ll never know.

“I believe the auto recycling story is wildly misunderstood,” said Joe Hearn, CEO of SHiFT, a new company from Middletown, Rhode Island, designed to add a greener tinge to the growing field of charitable auto donations. Car collectors get a nod, too, as SHiFT encourages the sale of as many parts as possible. Hobbyists hated the federal Cash for Clunkers program in 2009, because it took 677,081 vehicles out of parts circulation.

According to Hearn, auto recycling “gets cleaner and greener every year, for both environmental and economic reasons.” Hearn said the average internal-combustion car today is up to 80% recyclable, including the metal, tires, fluids, plastics, fabrics, and rubber parts. The engine, though, is 90% recyclable.

That level of recycling is mandated in Europe. Via EU legislation in place since 2000, new cars can only be sold if it’s possible to reuse or recycle them to a minimum of 85% by mass. The reuse/recovery minimum is 95%. Each year, eight to nine million tons of automobile waste is generated in the EU, and 25% of that is hazardous.

The hardest part of auto recycling is dealing with automotive shredder residue, also known as “fluff,” the plastics, glass, foam, rubber, and fibers that makes up about 20% of a car’s content. The US produces five million tons of the material annually.

Most goes into landfills; separating fluff into reusable components is difficult, and contamination with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) is an issue. A proposed EU directive would require 25% of new car plastic be recycled, with 25% of it sourced from end-of-life cars and trucks.

The SHiFT Vehicle Retirement Initiative is a partnership with the Automotive Recycling Training Institute that gives participating recyclers incentives to remove and resell as many original equipment parts as possible (pleasing collectors), and responsibly dispose of what remains.