Step 1: Pickup and check-in
The tow truck collects your car (free with most services) and it is logged at the wrecking yard: make, model, year, VIN and condition are recorded.
Step 2: Depollution
Before anything is dismantled, the yard drains all fluids — engine oil, coolant, brake fluid, fuel and air-conditioning gas — and removes the battery. These are sent to specialist recyclers or disposal facilities. This is the most environmentally important step.
Step 3: Parts harvesting
Anything reusable comes off: engines, gearboxes, alternators, starter motors, catalytic converters, alloy wheels, doors, panels, mirrors, headlights and interior parts. Good parts are tested, catalogued and sold to panel beaters, mechanics and DIY owners — this is why popular models like Corollas and Hiluxes are worth more to scrap.
Step 4: Crushing and shredding
The stripped shell is crushed and sent to a metal shredder. Steel, aluminium and copper are separated magnetically and sold to mills, mostly for export. Around 80% of a car by weight is recycled.
Step 5: The residue
What is left — plastics, glass, rubber, foam — is the hardest fraction. Modern shredder operations recover much of it, and the remainder goes to licensed disposal.
Why it matters
Scrapping through a licensed wrecker keeps oil, fuel and heavy metals out of the environment and puts steel back into the manufacturing loop — a genuinely green way to get rid of an old car, and you get paid for it.