A day in a Junkyard

A day in a Junkyard

Location: Imlachs Self Serve Auto Parts, Springvale, Victoria, Australia.
By: Salahuddin Ahmad – Student photographer, Melbourne Polytechnic

Either it is an accident or beyond its age, our carefully handled favourite car gets old, damaged, rusty, abandoned or impounded and becomes unwanted. It then finds a temporary shelter in a junkyard. A junkyard is also known as car wrecker, a place where damaged or old vehicles breaks up and recycles to obtain useable parts and scrap metal.

Junkyards make significant contribution to the economy. It is estimated that vehicle attrition rate in Australia is 4.1% which is approximately 700,000 vehicles a year and that produce 980,000 tonnes of waste each year. Thus, it requires a significant amount of workforce involvement to safely dispose of these vehicles as well as sustain the growth of this industry.

Imlachs Self Serve Auto Parts, a junkyard in Springvale, Victoria is a busy place full of activity throughout the day. People come here to sell their unwanted cars as scrap metal or collect recyclable parts from the damaged vehicles. There are 3 multi-dismantling machines, 2 forklifts, 6 trucks, 4 automotive lifts are in operation with 36 shift workers to operate and run the business.

The Junkyard offers an environmentally friendly place to dispose of unused and unwanted vehicles. These unwanted cars contain toxic battery acids, toxic chemicals, engine oils and other fluids which can cause long term damage to soils and water and air quality. To minimise the environmental impacts, the most environmentally friendly way is to dispose of them in a junkyard with authorized operators.