China Launches Parts Recycling Program

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

With the Olympics set to thrust The People's Republic of China into the world spotlight, the dictatorship's rulers have been attacking "environmental issues." Green Biz News reports the latest step in what the Chinese Communist Party terms "the scientific model of development:" a massive auto-parts recycling program. Three manufacturers and 11 parts suppliers have "agreed" to recycle engines, transmissions and electrical generators. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimates that four million old cars will be junked each year by 2010. They maintain that refurbished parts from dead cars cost only 60 percent of new components. Meanwhile, in the U.S., parts recycling companies like LKQ are making big money (even without government intervention). As automotive profits become harder to find in a sagging economy, reuse and recycling is getting a major shot in the proverbial arm. See how that works?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Jthorner Jthorner on Mar 26, 2008

    Discovering remanufactured parts, huh? This has been a thriving industry for decades. Most of the replacement alternators, starters, transmission and engines in the US are remanufactured parts.

  • Talldude07 Talldude07 on Mar 26, 2008
    This has been a thriving industry for decades. Most of the replacement alternators, starters, transmission and engines in the US are remanufactured parts. I have no problem with this, unless the parts happend to be purchased at AutoZone then after a few hundred miles its back to the good ol parts store in your neighbor's wife's grand am... how great is that. The people of communist china will do everything to polish up their nation when the Olympics come around, but who do they think they have fooled?
  • Edward Niedermeyer Edward Niedermeyer on Mar 26, 2008

    The Chinese are some amazing recyclers. In most cities the bulk of the work is done on tricycles. The people of communist china will do everything to polish up their nation when the Olympics come around, but who do they think they have fooled? The Chinese will fool plenty of people, because easy stereotypes get you nowhere when you're talking about a culture of over a billion people with thousands of years of history. Things are also changing so fast there that what is true one day might not be the next. There are some things that they won't fool anybody about, like Tibet and air pollution... but then every country has those little embarrassments, don't they?

  • Landcrusher Landcrusher on Mar 27, 2008

    Hey, give me a billion serfs willing to work for slave wages and I could do some amazing recycling too. In this country, we won't allow prisoners to work in the conditions those people do.

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