WATCH: Here’s what 2,000 cars lined up to be cannibalized look like

9 things you should know about auto recycling.

It used to be the junk yard. But now it’s an auto recycling center.

For as long as there have been cars on the road, someone has been taking the parts off the wrecked ones and reusing them to keep their own running. And being the entrepreneurs that Americans are, the car recycling industry has reached into the top 20 GDP producers in the U.S.

An example is LKQ Pick Your Part at James H. McGee Boulevard and Gettysburg Avenue.  With views from that site, here are nine things to know about the auto recycling industry:

1. This self-service auto recycler in Dayton stocks more than 2,000 vehicles on James H. McGee Boulevard.

2.  Cars are the most recycled thing by weight in the U.S.

3.  Approximately 10 million vehicles are recycled each year.

RELATED: Unique aerial views of Dayton

4.  As much as 80 percent of a car can be recycled.

5.  Cars are inventoried for parts.

6.  Fluids like gasoline, oil, coolant, air conditioning refrigerant, transmission and brake fluids are removed.

7.  High-value parts such as radios, CD players, and navigation systems are removed as well as starters, alternators, whole engines and transmissions.

RELATED:  See historic Woodland Cemetery from the air

8. Unrecyclable parts of the car like fabric, plastics, polymers, glass and rubber, known as automotive shredder residue, are removed and sent to the landfill.

9. The shell of the car is then usually crushed into cubes of steel that are sold to steel mills for recycling.

DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APPS FOR LATEST BREAKING NEWS

About the Author