On a flight home over winter break, I noticed a large swath of scrap near Birmingham Shuttlesworth Airport. Or so I thought. After landing, I did some digging with Google Maps and found that that scrap field was actually a junkyard. And, contrary to my assumptions, it was not alone. That’s right, though one would have trouble finding one over the mountain, the Birmingham metro area is home to more than 15 scrap recycling centers and industrial waste depots, other referred to as junkyards. Although they may be out of sight, Birmingham’s local junkyards serve a critical role in keeping key minerals from sitting in landfills and above all else help the consumer.
To explore the underrecognized world of junkyards, I visited two to get a better understanding of how they work. First, I went to Pull-A-Part Auto, a you-pick car parts supplier located on 27th Avenue near downtown Birmingham. Bordered by train tracks and larger, industrial scrap recycling centers, Pull-A-Part Auto has a gravel parking lot street side and a storefront next to it. The backlot is the size of a medium-scale Disney World parking lot, and feels like one too with cars sitting in neat rows. Instead of sourcing parts from wholesalers, Pull-A-Part Auto buys “whatever” cars “people sell” them, brings them to the lot and strips them of all useful parts, according to David, the manager. After collecting parts, staff “drain the oil” and other “fluids” from cars into containers that are then sold to other companies. Contrasting with chain auto part retailers, Pull-A-Part charges the same prices for parts regardless of origin, so customers could get a part from a “Chevy Volt to a Bugatti” at the same price. Pull-A-Part’s sourcing model allows consumers to get parts at lower costs when compared with chain auto part retailers by lowering supply costs.
Second, I visited Cherry Avenue Auto Parts, another you-pick parts supplier, but with a more traditional junkyard look. Located in the City of Brookside, Cherry Avenue sits on a three acre lot filled with used and non-working cars. Unlike Pull-A-Part Auto, Cherry Avenue does not remove fluids from cars before placing them on the lot. Cherry Avenue let’s buyers pick out “whatever they want” from the cars in the lot, according to Paco, the manager and owner. Due to how full the lot is, Paco moves cars around with a forklift if customers wish to look at cars that would otherwise be out of reach. While Cherry Avenue lacks the standardized layout and pricing of Pull-A-Part, it provides customers a sense of adventure to the car part buying experience that local customers have known for the past 30 years.
Although the junkyards described above might seem to serve just consumers, they recycle otherwise wasted resources. According to a New Hampshire state report, more than 85% of materials in old cars can be recycled and if done properly, recycling junk cars can keep mercury, gasoline, and other hazardous chemicals from leaching into the soil or water supply.
While at first glance they may seem like no more than scrap heaps, junkyards provide discounted parts and recycling services to the benefit of customers and the environment respectively. So, before taking a trip to a Big Auto Parts supplier, consumers might help both their wallet and community by exploring the junkyards in Birmingham’s backyard.
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