Junk Automobiles

Junked cars and trucks are a big problem in many of our Villages. We will tell you here how to get them out of there. First –you need to make sure that you do what you can to use or reuse these vehicles as much as possible. It will save you money and it is even better for the environment:

	Can you repair any?
	Can you sell individual parts to be re-used?
	Can you do something else with them? Cars have been used for planters or children’s playground equipment (after a safety inspection) and pickup beds have been used for burning trash at the dump.

Recycling Your Junk Automobiles
Did you know you can recycle your junk cars? A typical passenger car is about 75-80 percent recyclable. Some of the materials that can be recycled are:

Ferrous (Iron) metal products: steel frame, wheels, engine and body parts
Nonferrous metal products: aluminum trim, copper and brass radiators
Fluids: antifreeze, engine oil, gasoline, freon
Batteries, tires and other reusable items

Follow along to learn about how to recycle your junk automobiles

Where do I start?

Where and how you recycle your cars will depend on where you’re located. There are three basic steps:

How to prepare junk automobiles for recycling

Every company that accepts junk cars will have different requirements for what must be dismantled first. Find out ahead of time what the preparation requirements are. Also, the transportation companies may have their own preparation requests for the way the cars must be dismantled or packaged for shipping. So be sure to ask the transportation company what their requirements are as well.

Dismantling the automobiles
Anyone who will be dismantling should have HAZWOPER training. This training teaches you how to safely handle hazardous wastes. For information on how to get HAZWOPER training click here.

As mentioned above, different companies will have different requests for what they want dismantled from the car. Most companies require the following:

Removing Batteries

You will probably need to remove the batteries from all cars that you are recycling. For information on what to do with your car batteries once they have been removed, click here.

Draining Fluids

You will probably need to drain all the fluids from the cars too. The fluids to drain include: motor oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, and power steering fluid. Often, the gas tank will need to be removed OR the gas tank will need to be drained and a basketball sized hole must be put in. Several small holes are not adequate. The reason you need a large hole in the gas tank is so that remaining gas fumes can vent out – otherwise these tanks can explode!

How to drain the fluids
Easy-to-use pumps can be purchased to drain the fluids out of vehicles. Below are some examples of fluid vacuum pumps:

Examples of Fluid Extractor Pumps

These pumps work by moving a handle up and down to pump the fluids through a small hose. The fluids then go to the clear ‘holding cylinder’ that you can see in the pictures above. The fluids can then be transferred to labeled containers for shipping/recycling/proper storage. If you have the money in your budget, it’s a good idea to purchase 2-3 fluid pumps: one to use for gas, one for oil, and one for antifreeze. Then the fluids are kept clean and uncontaminated from one another.

	What to do with the fluids?
	For information about how to properly store hazardous wastes click here
	For information about how to ship out hazardous wastes click here
	For information about how to recycle used oil click here
	For information about how to recycle used antifreeze click here

How much do the fluid pumps cost and where can I purchase them?
These fluid pumps can be purchased for under $100 from the following places.

What kind of pumps are good to get?
The City of Kodiak recently prepared and shipped several cars for recycling and they recommend using the Mityvac Fluid Pump Evacuator, Model #07200 or the Fluid Evacuator Plus, Model # 07201. Both of these models can be found at this website: www.mityvac.com/kits.html

To read about Kodiak’s junk automobile recycling experience and success story, click here.

Removing Tires

Often, the tires will need to be removed. For information about recycling tires click here to go to our Recycling page.

To flatten or not to flatten

Flattening the vehicles with a piece of heavy equipment before shipping might be required by the company. Give them a call to find out if flattening is required.

Car title waiver

Some car recycling companies will require you to show proof of a “title” for each car you are trying to recycle/dispose of. If you don’t have the titles for the cars, just fill out this simple form and give it to the car recycler. Click here for the form.

Who to call?
Contact details for auto recyclers

Below are a few companies that accept junk automobiles. Give them a call to find out about their latest requirements and prices. You can also look up local companies in your yellow pages under scrap metal, automobile wreckers, and junkyards.

Company Name/Contact Details	Prices/Requirements
Alaska Metal Recycling 9705 King Street Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 349-4833 www.alaskametalrecycling.com	Alaska Metal Recycling is conveniently located by an unloading stop for Alaska Railroad. A few communities have backhauled their junk cars free-of-charge on Yutana Barge to Nenana, and then shipped the cars for free on Alaska Railroad to Alaska Metal Recycling. To read about a community’s success story of shipping junk cars for free, click here. Alaska Metal Recycling accepts any vehicles for free but requires that all fluids be drained and batteries and tires removed.
AKME Auto Salvage Wasilla Alaska Phone: 357-5865 Contact: Gary	AKME charges $175 per car out of the Anchorage area. They will go anywhere for a car, but the farther they go the more they charge. They will drain the cars and remove the battery. They would like the cars to have no tires but understand that's not always the case. They also have a car crusher that they can take to a site. They love to crush cars and are a full service company!
K&K Recycling 8 ½ Mile Old Richardson Hwy Fairbanks, Alaska Phone: 488-1819	K&K accepts any cars for free but offers no pickup service – cars must be brought directly to them. Fluids need to be drained, and batteries and tires need to be removed.
Affordable Auto Wrecking 9802 Martin L King Way S Seattle, Washington 98118 Phone: (206) 723-9820	Although this company is located in Seattle, they will take your junk cars for free and won’t charge for picking them up at the main barge dock. They also don’t require any dismantling or flattening. However, the barge lines may require you to drain fluids and remove batteries).
Schnitzer Tacoma, Washinton Phone: 1 (800) 562 9876	This company is also located in Washington and they will pay you for your cars. They pay from $30-$40 /ton for scrap metal. They require that fluids are drained, batteries and tires are removed, and that the lead battery terminals are clipped off the wires. The cars can be flattened or not flattened.

Car recycling success stories

Click here to read about Louden Village Council and Kodiak’s junk automobile recycling success stories!