A view inside the vehicle dismantling hall.

A mass of air (fuel tanks)

Application Test – Time: 0 seconds

Application test—duration: 3 seconds

Application test – time: 7 seconds

Application test—duration: 10 seconds

Shredding result—volume reduction of 5:1

Modern passenger cars contain a surprisingly large amount of plastic. Although drivers are often unaware of this, plastic components now account for approximately 10 to 20% of a vehicle’s weight. For a car weighing 1,500 kg, this amounts to approximately 150 to 300 kg of plastic materials.

In terms of volume, the proportion of plastics is even more significant. It is estimated that plastic parts account for approximately half the volume of all vehicle components, although their proportion by weight remains relatively low.

Automakers use a wide range of plastic materials depending on requirements for strength, durability, and weight.

The most common ones are:

• Polypropylene (PP) – bumpers, door panels
• ABS – dashboards, covers
• Polyamide (PA) – technical components in the engine compartment
• Polyethylene (PE) – Tanks and Containers for Liquids
• Polyurethane (PUR) – seats and padding
• PVC – Cable Assemblies and Interior Components

The main problem is not the amount of plastic itself, but its diversity.

End-of-life vehicles contain hundreds of different plastic components. These are often bonded to metal reinforcements, screws, inserts, or other materials. Identifying the individual types of plastic and subsequently recycling them is therefore technologically challenging and economically costly.

As a result, a significant portion of plastic parts from end-of-life vehicles still end up as alternative fuel for the cement industry instead of being recycled as material.

Some parts, such as bumpers or fuel tanks, can be successfully recycled. However, such materials are often sent to specialized recycling facilities located hundreds of kilometers away from where the vehicle was initially processed.

The volume of the material plays a significant role in the transport of plastic waste.

Rough shredding of plastic parts can significantly reduce their volume and increase the material’s density. This allows for more efficient use of transport capacity and reduces logistics costs. In many cases, transportation costs are the deciding factor in whether a material will be recycled or sent for energy recovery.

From the perspective of scrapyard operators, shredding is therefore becoming not only a technological but also an economic operation.

During CASTULIK’s application tests, one of the most problematic plastic components in a car—the plastic fuel tank—was tested.

The test demonstrated that the DX160/600 twin-shaft shredder, with an installed power of 16.7 kW, can successfully process this type of waste. The results suggest that the machine is also suitable for processing most common plastic components from passenger cars.

For many auto dismantling facilities and businesses involved in the processing of end-of-life vehicles, this can be an economically attractive solution that helps reduce the volume of waste even before it is transported or recycled.

When it comes to waste from the automotive industry, the biggest problem is often not the material itself, but its volume. That is why pre-processing the material through crushing is playing an increasingly important role in logistics and recycling.

After all, the most expensive waste is usually the kind where we’re mainly transporting air.