Auto Shredder Fluff Disposal

Each year more than 10 million automobiles reach the end of their useful life in the United States. Once a vehicle reaches the end of its useful life, it is oftentimes deregistered and sold to an automobile salvage facility where it may be utilized for parts or sent to an auto recycler to begin the next stage of its life, the recycling stage.

During the several decades of growing popularity enjoyed by auto shredding plants, how to best dispose of or recycle the nonmetallic fraction of shredded material has remained a critical issue.

To shred an automobile, a hammermill acts as a giant tree chipper by grinding the materials fed into it to fist-size pieces. The shredding of automobiles results in a mixture of ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal (e.g. alloys of copper and aluminium) and shredder waste, called automotive shredder residue or automobile shredder residue (ASR). ASR consists of glass, fiber, rubber, automobile liquids, plastics and dirt. ASR is sometimes differentiated into shredder light fraction and dust. Sometimes these residual materials are called "Car-fluff".

ASR often contains hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, and PCB. Therefore, some countries have classified ASR as hazardous waste and have established legislative controls.