Great little story out of Muncie on bringing fruitful land back from a former salvage yard!

Work has begun on a plan to re-vegetate Car Doctors, a former auto salvage yard on Burlington Drive adjacent to the Cardinal Greenway.

Revegatation is important in preventing erosion by water and wind and runoff of metal contaminants, and to alleviate unsightly conditions, says John Pichtel, a professor of natural resources and environmental management at Ball State University.

The project also will research the possibility of plants vacuuming up contaminants in the soil.

Mayor Dennis Tyler was on hand last week to thank Pichtel and his students for doing the project, which the city is helping to fund with $1,450.

The students are trying to “recolonize” the site by planting test plots of clover, rye grass, bluegrass and other plants, to determine which will grow best in the compacted, gavelly, infertile soil.

The project also will compare the ability of each type of plant to remove or stabilize soil contaminants.

The contaminants of concern include lead, arsenic, hydrocarbons and benzene. The site borders the White River as well as Cardinal Greenway. It also is the former site of bulk oil plants.

The students are using compost provided by Ball State in some test plots but not in others to determine if hauling in compost is worth the effort, Pichtel said. They also are studying the effects of amending the soil with mycorrhizal fungi, to see if it is better than compost in recolonizing the property.

Other vegetation to be planted at the site for testing includes, corn, wheat, soybeans and oats.

Eventually, Pichtel would like to recolonize the site with tallgrass prairie and a woodlot of oak, beech, birch and maple trees so it could become a recreational area with walking trails.

Read the full article here.

it looks like this!!

When people drive by John Ramsay’s home in Clover they may see a pile of junk in his side yard and Ramsey would agree with you.

“It’s junk, just junk,” said Ramsay.

But he also sees much more.

“I can get maybe $40 to $45 for this transmission and I have two of them,” said Ramsey. “This pile of aluminum and old pots I can get $30 to $40 for a big pile.”

He says can get $40 for 100 pounds of aluminum cans he collects too.

“If I see one under the red light up there I’ll stop and get it ‘cause I know that’s a penny,” said Ramsey.

Collecting the things that others don’t want all to help the 78 year old Korean War Veteran, pay the bills.

“What I make I spend it the same week,” said Ramsey. “A lot of weeks I don’t sell anything.”

Read more here.

This one is the most eco-frienldy car engine you will ever see!  An Australian wood sculptor has created an amazing wooden replica of the Ferrari 365GTB V12 engine and is now selling it on eBay for $6,000.

This kids has some awesome skillz!

A North County auto salvage company was heavily damaged by fire late Wednesday night.

Firefighters were called to San Luis Rey Auto Salvage & Towing on North El Camino Real near Douglas Drive about 11:40 p.m., Oceanside Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Ward said.

Read the full article here.

Go Texas!  While just a bit tardy to give the American economy of 2009 a jolt, a $10.4 million stimulus grant is just now being put to work getting Austin residents into electric cars at a steal.

Pecan Street, an environmental nonprofit based on the University of Texas campus, is using the grant to set up a kind of energy use laboratory in the recently developed mixed-use neighborhood where the Mueller Municipal Airport used to be, according to a story posted today by Texas Tribune.

Read the full article here.

With fleets of electric cars starting to hit the roads, the next big mother lode for salvage companies is expected to be the expensive, newfangled batteries powering them.

Yet even as automakers vaunt the ways these cars can benefit the environment, they are divided over how best to handle the refuse: recycle or re-purpose.

That is worrying some companies involved in “urban mining” — a voguish term that refers to extracting valuable metals from all kinds of discarded electronics, from power tools to mobile phones. They have already begun spending money to build an infrastructure to handle the flood of partly depleted battery packs that are expected to enter the waste stream; Frost & Sullivan, a consulting firm, puts the number at about 500,000 a year by the early

Read the full article here.

DEALERS in scrap metal have challenged steel and iron manufacturers to create their own reserves by bidding for raw materials from the mines’ salvage yards rather than influencing the government to impose the export ban of scrap metal.

The government has imposed various measures aimed at developing the steel industry in Zambia because the importation of steel and iron products was affecting local manufacturers.

Other measures include the introduction of 25 per cent duty on importation of grinding mill balls.

But dealers have said the government should level the playing field since local manufacturers offered lower prices that force them to export the raw material.

“We buy scrap by bidding from the mines’ salvage yards and also from the railways (RSZ) at K800,000 per tonne but local companies offer half the amount, so if the measures are aimed at creating reserves, let the local manufacturers also bid from the same source and stop influencing government to ban exports,” stated Siwoende Lutuka Investments Ltd.

“We have employed people and we have borrowed money from banks and we have also signed contracts with steel companies in South Africa hence we appeal to government to give us grace period to fulfill these engagements.”

And reacting to comments made by the Association of Manufacturers that the export ban on scrap metal would increase production of steel and iron, Fabian Chisulo, a dealer said scrap metal prices needed to be revised to international standards.

Read the full article here.

Michael Wilson of the Federal Trade Commission confirmed in a letter to the ARA the use of recycled automotive parts is OK for warranties!

In the letter, the FTC says: “Warrantors may not claim that a warranty is void simply because a consumer has used an authorized or recycled part.”

“Tying warranties to the use of new, authorized replacement parts is illegal under the Magnuson-Moss Act,” said Wilson. “Several months ago we asked the FTC to review position statements by several automobile manufacturers that implied that recycled parts are lesser quality parts than new OEM parts and that there use could void a manufacturer warranty,” said Wilson.

ARA raised concerns with the FTC that the position statements of the automobile manufacturers might mislead consumers into thinking that using recycled parts in a repair could void their warranty. As a result, the FTC announced the update of a consumer alert entitled Auto Warranties, Routine Maintenance, and Repairs: Is Using the Dealer a Must? The revised alert specifically notes that the mere use of recycled parts does not void a warranty and that it is illegal for warrantors to void a warranty or deny coverage simply because a recycled part was used.

This is great news for the environment and also for the auto recycling industry.  Using used green auto parts is a great way to keep the planet green and save some cash on repairs!