Trade-in
The last owner of an end-of-life vehicle takes it to an approved trade-in centre. The approved trade-in centre then checks the vehicle and issues the required Certificate of Destruction (CoD).

Pre-processing and depollution
The battery and tyres are removed, and the airbags neutralised. Next, our partner removes any remaining fuel and other liquids from the vehicle: engine oil, transmission oil, brake fluid, and air conditioning coolant. This pollutant waste will then have 100% of its value reinstated in their specialist treatment facility.

Dismantling for re-use
The next step consists of dismantling mechanic parts, bodywork, and electrical and electronic components. These will either be reused as used parts, or reconditioned. If it’s economically viable, materials such as plastic and glass are also salvaged for recycling at this point.

Storage
Environmentally hazardous materials are recovered and sent to companies specialising in waste recycling or destruction.

Crushing
The depolluted shells are sent to a crusher, where they are crushed and shredded into pieces only a few centimetres in size. These pieces are then sent through an initial magnetic sorting process to recover any ferrous metals (steel).

Post-crushing
The remaining crushed material is sorted automatically, using physical properties (magnets, Eddy currents, flotation) to separate the different types of material fragments.

Recycling, recovery and landfill
Once sorted, these material fragments are recycled (metals are sent to steelworks/metalworks, and certain plastics back to the plastics industry) or converted into energy (cement works, urban heating, power stations, etc.). This industrial process means that over 95% of a vehicle’s weight can be reused, recycled or upcycled, which greatly reduces the amount of final waste ultimately sent to specialist landfill sites.