Jalopnik: recycling

That Old Computer Could Fuel A Vehicle

Travis Hudson — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:20:00 EDT

In today's episode of The Holy-Shit-Gas-is-High Alternative Fuel Chronicles, we encounter researchers in Romania and Turkey that have devised a way to turn the circuit boards from old electronics into a potential fuel source. The process uses a combination of catalysts, high temperatures and chemical filtration to extract toxins from old electronic junk that could be a fuel for vehicles and more. In 20 years will you be cramming old, outdated iPhones into the gas tank of your flying car? We'd bet against it, but it shows that it's not just the United States thats freaking out about gas prices. [Live Science via Giz]

East Bay Volvo Stereotypes Confirmed By Junkyard Visit

Murilee Martin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

As we saw a while back, the onslaught of the all-conquering Toyota Prius has been booting hundreds of once-cherished East Bay Volvo 240s into the local wrecking yards. In some ways it's a shame for such well-built machines to be cast aside like that, but it's a boon to those of us who want to build race cars out of them. One interesting feature of the Volvo 240 is its very distinctive aluminum bumpers, which are always pulled off for metal recycling by junkyard crews before the rest of the car is sent to The Crusher. You often see stacks of Volvo bumpers next to aluminum wheels and radiators. But are these cars really coming from Berkeley?

Hmmm... "Get Corporations Off Welfare" bumper sticker...

And the telltale Berkeley residential-area parking permit!

Chinese Roads To Be Resurfaced With Unsold Robbie Williams CD's

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:15:00 EST

There may be no second acts in American lives, but crappy British pop music is now getting a second life in China. Robbie Williams' dancepop album Rudebox wasn't quite what you'd call a hit, leaving about a million copies sitting in an EMI warehouse. The solution? The company crushed the CD's and is sending the compacted matter to China for use in resurfacing roads and for use in street lights.

While embarrassing, we hope that Mr. Williams can take some solace in the fact that his CD's will now be around much longer than his music. [ Contact Music via CarDomain via CarScoop]

6000 Scrap Cars Go Up In Smoke

maustin — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:15:25 EDT

The Springfield Tire Yard fire has nothing on this. A scrap yard in Mason City, IA caught fire earlier this morning. Flames shot over a hundred feet into the air and firefighters from four neighboring cities were called in to help. It unclear what was the cause of the fire, as the old cars have their batteries, gas tanks, and tires removed.

Mountain of cars burning at recycle facility [globegazette.com]

Top Secret Project Inside Ford Launched to Build Recyclable Vehicles

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 07:13:01 EST

We're still waiting for Ford to announce massive layoffs and plant closures this morning, but in the time-honored PR tradition of chasing bad news with good, The Detroit News profiles a project within Ford the company hopes will make it more competitive with Toyota and other, er, competitors. The "Piquette Project" as it's known, is a double-secret (uh, not any more) research project inside Ford to make its cars recyclable and environmentally friendly. Actually, the project, which will counter a similar project at Toyota — was revealed in a Time magazine article on Bill Ford this week. Now back to your regularly scheduled corporate restructuring.

Top secret Ford plan: Recyclable vehicles [The Detroit News]