Once the vehicle is prepared and compacted, bundles of 16-26 compacted vehicles are typically shipped off to large metal processing plants where they are shredded and separated. Around 76% of the average car, by weight, is made up of metal. Most of this percentage is sheet metal.
The overall metal content, however, has declined in the past few decades due to the introduction of non-ferrous metals and plastics incorporated into vehicle design.
Of metals used presently in vehicles, approximately 98% is recycled and recovered by shredding operations which is then developed by the steel industry and re- smelting facilities. Other materials commonly found in vehicles (Plastics, Lead, Aluminum, Copper…etc) are typically separated and recycled for a variety of uses. Using our process roughly only 2% of a vehicle's total materials are sent to landfills.