Depending on how “part” is defined—is a piston one or six parts? —the number of parts in an average car ranges from roughly, a low of 2,000 to a high of over 10,000. These parts are made from a lot of different materials, which creates a complex recycling problem when the vehicle is finally sent to the junk yard.

 

To be sure there are many bigger and more complex machines manufactured today—an average passenger aircraft, for example, has over four million parts—but the car industry and its component suppliers hold their ranking as one of the largest users of materials in manufacturing.

 

A clear general outline of the wide variety of materials in an average car can be found at www.1877endoflifevehicles.com . A pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the variety of materials with descriptive notes that, paraphrased, translate into the following list:

 

Metals

 

About 76% of the average car, by weight, is metal—mostly sheet metal. The metal content has been replaced in the past few decades with non-ferrous metals and plastics. Of metals used presently in vehicles, approximately 98% is recycled and recovered by the steel industry and re- smelting facilities.

 

Aluminum

 

Aluminum use in vehicles is growing exponentially which is a very heartening development. Easily separated from other materials, currently, 95% of aluminum from cars is recovered and recycled. Aluminum can be recycled more than once without losing quality in the transformative process.

 

Plastics

 

More and more plastics are used in vehicle production—making up roughly 11% of cars today. The reasons are many: plastics are impact and corrosion resistant, relatively low cost and lightweight. Lighter weight contributes to fuel efficiency. A car that weighs 1.3 tons (produced without plastics) uses 1000 more liters of fuel in its life than a car weighing 1.1 tons (produced with plastic). But there is a significant recycling problem with plastics. Many different polymers are used and they are not distinguished by labeling, which makes recovery and recycling almost impossible. If all plastics were identified based on polymer type, car plastic recycling would increase dramatically. The most common plastics used in vehicle production are polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

 

Operating fluids

 

Vehicle operating fluids include fuel, engine oil, transmission fluid, engine coolant, windshield washer fluid, and refrigerant. Although increasing amounts of engine oil—the greatest polluter of the group —are being recovered and recycled, many car owners change their own oil and estimates are that less than one third of this waste oil is recycled.

 

Other materials include catalytic converters, batteries, glass (both toughened and laminated) and tires. Fortunately recycling of these complex components with their respective variety of materials is reasonably advanced.

 

We can expect that building a vehicle with recycling in mind will soon become a popular concern.