Your car requires numerous fluids to run, including coolants, fuel, refrigerants, oil and battery acid. This means that when we scrap your car, we have to take these fluids into consideration, especially as they can be toxic – both to us and to the environment. This process is called depolluting and seeing as it’s an important one in the world of car scrapping, let's take a look at what it involves.

What is the depolluting process?

The depolluting process involves one of our mechanics removing and disposing of all your car's fluids. As you can imagine, they take special care when doing this and any liquids that can't be disposed of safely onsite are packaged up and sent on to a specialist. This is particularly the case with battery acid as it’s a very toxic fluid.

You may now be thinking that your local scrap yard has a room that is packed with battery acid containers, but this isn’t the case. The Environment Agency has a strict set of rules in place that dictate how long scrap car yards can have battery acid and the like in storage. Our appointed recycling centres' aim to dispose of or transport any liquids we remove from your vehicle as quickly as possible to ensure we retain our Authorised Treatment Facility status.

Can I depollute my car before bringing it to the scrap yard?

No - this is not something we recommend! Car batteries, in particular, contain toxic materials such as acid, lead, and mercury. All three of these substances are known to cause damage to the liver and the brain if you're exposed to them for too long, as well as causing damage to wildlife if they’re disposed of incorrectly and allowed to seep into the ground. Coolants can also pose a danger to the kidneys.

What happens once my car has been depolluted?

Once your car has been depolluted, it’s ready to be scrapped. The next stage is recycling, with any plastic, fibre and metal being extracted and then sold on, keeping as much material as possible away from landfills. If your car was scrapped without first being depolluted, the parts are considered unusable as they've been contaminated with toxic waste.

For more information on how we depollute scrapped cars, contact our team at Motorwise today.