The 2m cars disposed of each year in Britain seems high but is dwarfed by the 14m scrapped by American drivers in 2009.
A significant amount of steel is recycled during this process, but environmental awareness is encouraging ever-more creative ways to re-use the materials from scrapped cars.
Architectural firm Leger Wanaselja in California regularly uses scrapped car parts in its buildings. Over 100 salvaged car roofs cover the upper walls of the house pictured right. The roofs of the cars from local scrap yards retain their original paint – in this case, different shades of grey.
Glass awnings, which are normally an expensive addition to a house, are made from the side windows of a particular type of Dodge MPV.
The lower walls are clad in poplar bark, a waste product from the furniture industry of North Carolina.
Tyred, but not out
What better way to furnish the Leger Wanaselja house than furnishings made from items discarded by other modes of transport?
| Recycled furniture | …from tyres |
|---|---|
| Latvia-based designer Ivars Gansons using old bicycle inner tubes to transform an old bed frame into an outdoor bench |  |
| Elegant bins made from old lorry tyres are a common sight in Thailand |  |
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