CarTakeBack collection truck with driver and customer

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CarTakeBack scrap car recycling centre and staff member

Scrap car recycling

CarTakeBack specialises in providing an authorised scrap car recycling service. We’re the largest scrap car recycling network in the UK!

There are laws in place to reduce the impact that scrap cars can have on the environment.

  • Businesses handling scrap cars should have an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) permit – all CarTakeBack recycling centres hold one of these Government licenses.
  • Every scrap car must undergo a depollution process to remove all of the toxic materials.
  • As much of the car as possible needs to be recycled in order to hit the Government’s scrap car recycling target of 95%.

How a car is recycled

Cars don’t just get crushed into a cube! When a car arrives at the scrap car recycling centre there’s a lot that goes into depolluting and recycling it. Fluids such as fuel, brake fluid, even windscreen wash have to be safely removed from the vehicle, ensuring that no excess chemicals leak into the environment. Airbags have to be securely detonated.

Any parts that are in a good condition are salvaged for reuse, to get the maximum life out of them.

It’s now ready to be crushed. This is usually done to make vehicles easier and more efficient to transport for further recycling. The cubed or crushed vehicles are then safely transported to a shredder plant. These shredder facilities process the vehicles into smaller pieces and separate the metal, glass, plastics and fabrics, which can then be recycled for use in various ways. At this point there is just 5% of the vehicle leftover that can’t be recycled, which becomes top cover for landfill.

Recycling electric vehicles

This process is just for a regular petrol or diesel vehicle, but there’s even more involved in decommissioning an electric vehicle. Not only do the high voltage batteries need to be safely disconnected and removed from an electric or hybrid car, but various other high voltage systems and powerful magnets also need to be carefully made safe before taking the rest of the car apart.

Investing in advanced recycling methods

The sophisticated post-shredder separation technologies employed by CarTakeBack’s shareholders have been successful, both in extracting value and reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfill, with greater volumes of shredder waste material heading for further processing. This is predominantly due to huge investment by CarTakeBack shareholder S. Norton & Co, in the Shredder Waste Advanced Processing Plant (SWAPP) operated by plastics specialist Axion Polymers. This large scale facility produces a high quality, recycled plastic product, for which there is sufficient demand to make the whole process economically viable.

This powerful combination enabled CarTakeBack and its car maker partners to meet the UK’s statutory 95% reuse, recycling and recovery obligation, two years ahead of it coming into force. CarTakeBack’s years of experience and ongoing investment will help to ensure that targets such as these can continue to be met. We are future-proofing our operation to make sure we can continue to offer the same high standards for recycling electric and hybrid cars and vans too.

Car shells on racking ready for the metal to be recycled

Scrap car recycling to the highest standard

Every scrap car sold with CarTakeBack, which is ready to be scrapped, is recycled to 95%. CarTakeBack has met or exceeded the Government’s car recycling target every year since it was introduced as part of the End of Life Vehicle regulations.

The Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is responsible for regulating parts of our industry. They make sure that car manufacturers provide a convenient, free, take back service for end of life vehicles (ELVs), and that the demanding recycling and recovery targets are met. CarTakeBack are long-standing members of the Government’s Consultation Group for ELVs.

feefo white logo scrap your car reviews

4.9/5 stars based on 1,516 service ratings over the past year

Easy to do with your help

Professional from beginning to end. The man who collected the car helped me to fill in all the official papers and the money was in the bank that day. Thank you.

5 stars

Brilliant Service

Simple and straight forward. Everything was done very professionally and they dealt with paperwork and DVLA. Money was in my account within 5 mins of car being loaded...10/10 Highly recommended.

5 stars

Completely favourable !

I had no problem immediately obtaining a viable quote for my car . Once accepted an arranged pickup was agreed within 48hrs and the resulting collection was swift and the two staff members both friendly and polite. Payment was as agreed

4 stars

Perfect service

Absolutely hassle free and perfect service from start to finish very well informed and felt very comfortable throughout the process. I would recommend this company to friends and family thank you 🙏

5 stars

Speedy, efficient, fair brilliant service

Quick, easy, very professional, fair price offered, the recovery driver was amazing very friendly, very efficient made the whole process effortless Thank you 👍

5 stars

Successful easy sale

Very easy sale and a good price. All done in a few days and on days and times as suggested. Polite staff including collecting driver so overall I would recommend them heartily.

5 stars

Perfect experienxe

So easy - filled out the info on the website, accepted their competitive offer and the car was collected at the agreed time with no fuss. Couldn’t have asked for any better.

5 stars

Excellent

Very quick and simple and got the price I was offered online, (which was a lot more than I was offered by a few local companies) no hassle at all and the money was in my account within an hour of the car being collected! Excellent service highly recommended!

5 stars
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