Ennis Auto Recyclers, Inc. first opened for business in 1978 as Ennis Auto Salvage and Used Cars. Entrepreneur and proprietor, Byron Roberts, purchased a 100 acre tract of land on the southwest side of Ennis in 1976 with a vision to offer Ellis County and surrounding communities an alternative for used auto parts. After a year and a half of stocking the new Ennis location with salvage vehicles, Byron opened for business in 1978. Operating on approximately 25 acres, Ennis Auto Salvage had an opportunity to provide a large inventory of salvage vehicles – even to the point of offering over 2,500 vehicles to choose from. Beginning with humble facilities, a sharecropper’s house for an office and a tractor shed for dismantling, the business grew into a new 7,500 s.f. building in 1983 which still serves for the main office, dismantling bays and inventory racking. In 1989, Ennis Auto Salvage converted to a computerized inventory system that stimulated business and began a new era in auto recycling.
With the advent of the World Wide Web, the ability to locate parts across the United States grew exponentially. More and more used auto parts were shipped all across the country. This was also about the same time there was a greater recycling awareness to protect our environment. Salvage yards became “auto recycling facilities” and began putting a greater emphasis on maintaining a “green” or environmentally-friendly facility. Ennis Auto Recyclers, Inc. maintains this as our goal today and will continue to keep this a priority in the future.
What Happens to Car Bodies
Automotive recycling is the 16th largest industry in the U.S., estimated to be a $25 billion per year industry. There are approximately 7,000 vehicle recycling operations around the country, recycling about 26 automobiles every minute.
- Recycling cars and trucks provides enough steel to produce almost 13 million new automobiles each year.
- The metal removed is reused for such things as a new vehicle’s chassis and engine, which serves to “close the loop” in steel recycling.
- In 2006, enough steel from old cars was recycled to produce 48 million steel utility poles, one third of the utility poles in the U.S.
- The steel found in just six cars, when recycled, is enough to build a new house using steel framing.
- Each year, more than 62 percent of the steel produced domestically is recycled. The basic oxygen furnace (BOF) process uses 25 to 35 percent old steel to make new, ductile steel sheets that can be stretched and formed in to articles like new body panels.
- The electric arc furnace (EAF) process uses more than 80 percent old steel to make new steel for structural steel uses like concrete reinforcement.
- Automobile recycling is almost as old as the car itself. Today, waste from auto recycling such as auto shredder fluff (automobile shredder residue) and plastics pose the biggest challenge in automotive recycling efforts. With cars are built containing more plastic than metal, and car makers around the world are working diligently to find ways to push automobile recycling rates beyond 85 percent.
Benefits of Recycling Car Bodies
Every year in the U.S., approximately 15 million automobiles reach the end of their usable lives. When the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle, it is considered a “constructive total loss.” At this point, it is better to recycle the vehicle and purchase another.Fortunately, 75 percent of the material from these end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is recycled. However, this also means that 25 percent is not recycled, leaving a significant portion of waste behind. Here are some facts on the environmental benefits of recycling of automobiles:
- Automobiles are the most recycled consumer product. Each year, the steel industry recycles more than 14 million tons of steel from ELVs. Thi is equivalent to nearly 13 million automobiles.
- When comparing the amount of steel recycled from automobiles each year to the amount of steel used to produce new automobiles, automobiles maintain a recycling rate of nearly 100 percent.
- By weight, the typical passenger car consists of about 65 percent steel and iron. The steel used in car bodies is made with about 25 percent recycled steel.
- Recycling steel saves energy and natural resources. The steel industry annually saves enough energy to power about 18 million households for a year.
- Recycling one ton of steel conserves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
- Vehicles that would otherwise be left on the roadside or abandoned in empty lots can be legally obtained by licensed dismantlers and safely converted into reusable or recycled commodities.
- Steel is one of the few materials that can be recycled repeatedly without loss of quality or strength. However, care must be taken in the recycling process to avoid contaminating the steel with other metals.
- Steel is the most recycled material in the world – nearly 70 million tons in the U.S. alone were processed in 2006.
- More steel is recycled annually than all other materials, including aluminum, glass and paper combined.
- Because recycling metal uses about 74 percent less energy than making new steel, the recycling of these vehicles saves an estimated 85 million barrels of oil annually that would have been used in the manufacturing of new or replacement parts.
- Recycled steel reduces the need for new iron ore to be mined, protecting the environment from the side effects of mining.
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