Can you recycle car parts & number plates?
🔄 Specialist take-back
Scrap yards take metal parts; number plates go in general waste (bend them first).
Metal car parts have scrap value — local scrap yards pay for them. Oily parts aren't accepted at recycling centres. Number plates are acrylic and metal laminate: not recyclable, and worth bending or cutting up before binning to prevent cloning.
Tips
- Whole vehicles: use an ATF (authorised treatment facility) and get the DVLA certificate of destruction
Which bin does it go in?
Scrap yards take metal parts; number plates go in general waste (bend them first).
Background: The decluttering disposal checklist.
Also searched as: number plates, car battery, alloys, exhaust.
✓ Checked against current UK guidance: 14 Jul 2026. Spot an error or an out-of-date rule?