Radiator recycling

Radiators are essential in cars, trucks and other automobiles. Radiators were also once an essential part of a home heating system. What do they have in common? Both are great candidates for recycling. They are made almost entirely with metal, which is a very easy product to recycle.

Up to the 1980s, radiator cores were often made of copper (for fins) and brass (for tubes, headers, and side-plates, while tanks could also be made of brass or of plastic, often a polyamide). Starting in the 1970s, use of aluminium increased, eventually taking over the vast majority of vehicular radiator applications thanks to their reduced weight and cost.