Tires are stacked like onion rings on the snow-covered ground, and car doors are lined up like f ile folders on rows of outdoor storage racks at Chuck’s Auto Salvage in Douglassville.
Inside, the thick, blue backseat of an older-model van is reused as comfortable lobby seating, and two lamps on the windowsill are assembled from leftover license plates and car parts. A few steps away, Doug Reinert, who co-owns the longtime family business with his wife, Marianne Reinert, and brother, J.R. Reinert, points to a collection of his children’s school projects in his office: license plates that are reshaped as pen holders, stadium seating constructed from seatbelts and decorative hubcap clocks.
“We promote reuse,” Doug Reinert says. “It’s good and important for the environment.”
The crew at Chuck’s, including many of the employees’ kids, spend their days figuring out innovative ways to salvage, resell, recycle or reuse just about any car part – from transmissions and tires to door hinges and windshield wiper fluid. “The automobile is one of the most recyclable items in the world,” says Reinert, former president of the Automotive Recyclers Association. “About 80 percent of the car can be or get recycled.”
Go Green with Auto Parts
Reinert’s father, Chuck, started the business in 1972 and initially provided 24-hour towing and repair. Today, the business has transitioned to sales, particularly of “green recycled parts,” which are in high demand, Reinert explains.
Green recycled parts are good for the Earth, your car and your wallet, according to one of the business’s brochures. They reduce the need for new parts to be manufactured and save parts from being sent to landfills, Reinert says.
“There is less impact on environmental and economic resources,” he says, while giving a tour of the business’s expansive property, which is a certified auto recycler and one of the premiere automotive dismantling facilities on the East Coast. “We’re able to preserve our natural resources and cut down on pollution.”
Chuck’s processes approximately 1,000 cars (often donated or recovered from accidents) annually, and currently there are nearly 580 cars on the lot. The skilled crew dismantles cars and then labels and stores salvageable parts, which can be rebuilt, refurbished and resold.
While parts are sold nationally via eBay, the bulk of Chuck’s Auto Salvage’s wholesale business occurs within a 50-mile radius, including York, Allentown, North Philadelphia and Lancaster, Reinert says. Top sellers include motors, engines, transmissions and tires. Front doors, trunk lids, window motors, circuit boards and wiper motors are also requested often, he says.
“Quality is important,” Reinert says, adding that about four cars are dismantled each day. “There is a market for just about everything.”
To strengthen its “green” facility, the company recently implemented a computerized inventory system that eliminates paper waste. Plus, reclaimed gas from dismantled cars is used for the company’s delivery trucks or given to employees for their cars, and reclaimed oil is used to heat the company’s shipping areas and garages. Chuck’s also participates in a voluntary program that collects mercury switches, which are often found in trunk lights, Reinert adds.
However, Reinert says he is most proud of Chuck’s Auto Salvage’s annual Earth Day event, which provides an entertaining and educational opportunity for community members to learn about the environment. In addition, residents can bring their automotive waste and fluids, he says.
“If it keeps people from throwing tires on the side of the highway or dumping fluids dangerously, then we know we’ve helped,” he says, recalling one woman, clad in hip boots, who found a dozen tires on the bank of a local stream and brought them to the shop. “We take pride in what we do. Our staff members get involved, as well as some of their children, who host games outside and pull shopping carts up to the donors’ cars to collect items. It’s exciting and fun, and it’s nice to get the community involved.”
In 2013, more than 100 families attended the Earth Day event, and the shop collected 331 gallons of oil, 80 gallons of antifreeze, 276 tires and 52 car batteries, Reinert says, adding that each donor received a pack of seedlings to take home and plant.
This year’s Earth Day event will be held on April 22 from 8am-5pm, and residents are encouraged to drop off recyclable car parts and fluids, including waste oil, antifreeze, automotive lead batteries, scrap metal and tires (limit 4). Chuck’s then salvages, recycles or properly disposes of the waste.
For every car battery collected, the business will donate $10 to help complete the Boyer Memorial Pavilion, which is being built at the Amity Community Park in honor of Harold “Butch” Boyer, an active local volunteer who passed away in January 2013. In previous years, Chuck’s donated the money to the Berks Conservancy, Reinert says.
“It’s a great feeling to know that we’re helping the environment and keeping pollutants out of the ground and ecosystem,” he says. “It’s satisfying to know that we’re doing the right thing, that we’re being environmentally conscious. We’re very proud of that.”
Chuck’s Auto Salvage 6867 Boyertown Pike, Douglassville 610.689.9574 | Chucksas.com
by Kristin Boyd | photos by Nicole Mathis, Blu’ Orchid Photography
