America Recycles Day: How Car Manufacturers Commit to Clean Energy, Green Living, and Recycling in the Automotive Industry

Whether you watch a news broadcast on TV, stream a podcast, listen to the radio, or scroll social media, chances are you’ve learned about climate change, environmental crises, and global efforts in reducing energy consumption and increasing recycling.  Today we’re celebrating America Recycles Day by highlighting some of the impressive efforts in the automotive industry to recycle and reuse metal and other materials in efforts to be more eco-conscious!

Did you know that 80% of your car can be recycled? That’s right!  Over 25 million tons of materials are reclaimed from old and discarded vehicles, and they’re one of the most widely recycled items of consumer refuse around the world!  Automotive recycling industry in the United States provides jobs to over 100,000 people, and nearly $25 billion in revenue.  And the North American (US/CA) auto recycling saves 85 million oil barrels each year, and enough reclaimed steel to create 13 million new cars! 

Automotive manufacturers do their best to reduce waste wherever possible.  Everything from steel and aluminum to car batteries (a whopping 98% are recycled) windshield glass, carpets,rubber hoses, and even seat belts can be repurposed or recycled!  Even tires can be recycled and repurposed into new goods such as rubber for shoes and sandals, filler for playground surfaces, etc.   Experts anticipate that scrap metal recycling will total upwards of $60 billion by the end of 2021, with about 60% of scrap metals being recycled from the automotive industry over the next 10 years.

At Classic’s Dealerships, we’re proud to boast some wonderful “Green Options” when it comes to vehicle choice and styling, as both Toyota and Kia have been working diligently to improve their carbon footprint, increase the use of recycled materials, and other environmentally friendly measures, and we’re proud to be a part of it all:

• Recycled bio plastics are used in seat cushions and interiors of the Toyota Prius, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix, and the Toyota Rav4.
• Toyota has eliminated use of over 12 tons of PVC materials in its assembly plants.
• Since 2010, Toyota has recovered and repurposed upwards of 140,000 hybrid batteries.
• Toyota also has a long-term recycling program and environmentally conscious vision in place.
• Since January 2015, 85% of every Toyota/Lexus vehicle must be reused or recycled, and it is expected that 95% of it will be recovered and reprocessed.
• Toyota created a program to recycle plastic bumper covers and convert them into plastic pellets to be sold and processed into other auto parts.
• The Kia Soul EV’s uses over 50lbs of bio-plastics per vehicle, which are fabricated from cellulose and sugarcane, in 10 different pieces of its interior from door panels to seats to carpets.
• Kia has adopted a climate friendly pledge including ECO-Friendly Car Lifecycle Management which you can learn more about here.
• Kia is also working with SK Innovation to create eco-friendly recollection of metals like lithium from used EV Batteries.
• Kia’s aim is to reduce waste and water consumption, and increase recycling efforts with an end goal of zero landfill contributions and zero waste incineration.
• Kia is expanding its range of “Battery Electric Vehicles” (BEVs) and increasing the total travel mi/km range per charge, and a fast 20 minute high-speed charge time.

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