A couple of years ago, I got into a car accident. As it usually goes, I was driving down the road minding my own business when someone pulled out to cross traffic in front of me. I couldn’t stop in time and hit the back end of their car. The front of my car was crushed, one of the wheels ripped to pieces and my car, which by the way was in great condition, was no longer drivable. 

The other driver didn’t even stop, they actually drove off! What surprised me more is that after the police showed up at the scene, the other driver came back. Thankfully, my passengers, one being my young child, were unharmed.

If you’ve been in a car accident, you know the drill; A police report, insurance companies want to know what happened, if you need transportation you have to rent a car, get your car evaluated, and depending on the evaluation, you may or may not be able to drive your car ever again. Sadly, that was the case with my car, it received the dreaded mark, a “total loss”. The other driver’s insurance company paid for everything, and they even reimbursed me for a new car seat because if you didn’t know, a car seat in a car accident, no matter how big or small, is not “safe” and will not be covered on insurance claims in the future. 

I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to my car now that it’s considered junk, and now I have a car seat that’s useless to me. This was pretty discouraging, as it was in great condition, had low miles, and had no trouble at all! It seemed like such a waste. Same with the car seat, it was a good one.. or at least was until the accident made it “invalid”. That’s not the only reason a car seat can be deemed invalid. Car seats expire, too.

So, what happens to vehicles after car accidents? What happens to “invalid” or expired car seats?

What Happens To Cars After An Accident?

For every city or state it might be different, but after web searches, conversations with my insurance company, and talking with the mechanics who evaluated my car, this is my conclusion: it depends. 

The mechanics at the specific shop I went to told me that they do their best to not send cars and car parts to the landfills. There is a lot of money to be made from scrap metal, undamaged car parts, and this is a good motivator for companies. They explained to me that they sell the car for parts, or auction it off. Whatever they can salvage they use for parts for another car. In this situation, because Toyota Camry’s are quite common and my car was fairly new and in good condition, it will most likely get put to good use. They also told me they try to send as much as they can to get recycled, which I thought was pretty great. Whatever is left is scrapped (and I’m not sure what that means in detail). 

This is not how every car in a car accident is dealt with, but it’s good to know that at least some companies are handling “junk” automobiles with good intensions. 

What Happens To Car Seats After They Expire or are Unusable?

After realizing I could not use the car seat again, and it could not be placed in roadside recycling, what could I do to keep it out of the landfills and give it more purpose? Here’s what I found from my research.

For the car seat, most insurance companies will reimburse you to replace the car seat. You will have to show evidence that the car seat is unusable. I cut the straps to destroy the seat, send them a pictures, and only then would I be reimbursed for a new car seat.

What happens to the destroyed seat? Where do I dispose of it, or can I repurpose it for something? I didn’t want to keep it, but it felt wasteful to just dump it in curbside garbage. The sad truth is that not many states in the U.S. have resources to recycle used car seats, but keep reading and I’ll explain why that is.  I wish I had more helpful information for you, but the truth is, it’s hard to find a place to recycle car seats.

Occasionally, baby gear stores, even Target, have done “car seat drives” in the past, where you can bring in your expired or damaged car seat to recycle. But they’re hard to find, the events are not frequent enough, and don’t get publicized well.

Are Car Seats Recyclable?

Car seats are hard to recycle. The reason is because they’re difficult to disassemble. You want your child protected, so you don’t want the car seat falling apart in an accident. The car sear must be taken apart manually, and recycling facilities do not have the infrastructure to separate the various materials in the seat. So, they have to be taken apart, piece by piece. Here’s a rough idea of the various materials included in a car seat:

• Fabric and other textiles
• Heavy duty straps 
• Hard plastic
• Sometimes foam
• Metal framing

But are the parts recyclable? Yes and no. If there is a buyer for that type of material, than it will be valuable enough to recycle. The metal and plastic are likely to be recycled. But the fabrics, maybe not so much.  resolve the issue of the millions of car seats in the world that are doomed for the landfills.

You may not think that tossing your car seat to the curb is a big deal, and if it was only a few car seats maybe that would be ok. The problem is that millions of people are doing it. How many car seats are manufactured a year? How many are expired or marked “invalid” each year? I don’t know how many there are in the world, but it’s not hard to conclude that there are far too many car seats going to landfills. 

The different parts in car seats are not all the same, plastics do not decompose into elements that are considered safe. If you think about it, plastic is made from oil that is taken from deep in the Earth, not from the surface. It doesn’t belong here on the surface, yet we have more than we can handle, so it’s important that we handle it well.

In Conclusion

Car seats are built to be mostly indestructible to protect your child in a car accident. That is what keeps them safe. Each child will likely use at least 3 car seats in their lifetime as they grow. Consider the amount of children that are born each year and multiply that by 3. That is a lot of car seats per year. Car seats that will be labeled “invalid” or expire after only a few years. If i use simple math, let’s say that 1 million car seats are purchased every year. But the good news is that car seats can be recycled. The struggle is finding a location that accepts car seats. Check out baby gear stores, or stores that sell baby gear, and search for “car seat drive” events in your area. Be sure to share your resources in the comments section!

One way you can help is by sharing your resources, so those who are looking for a place to recycle their car seat can make it happen. We rely on our readers’ resources and input to spread awareness and ideas! 

Until next time.