In Blaine, clunkers meet their end

The federal Cash for Clunkers program may be over, but the work continues for businesses that have to recycle more than 700,000 gas guzzling trade-ins.

One of the busiest places in the country for recycling those clunkers is John's Auto Parts in Blaine. Stretching over several acres of land, the huge complex is filled with vehicles that are methodically dismantled for their parts, crushed, and sent off to be shredded into tiny bits.

MPR's Cathy Wurzer talked with John's Auto Parts Chief Operations Officer Mark Hortman. As an employee took apart a red Chevy Blazer turned in under the Cash for Clunkers program, Hortman told said they have had to hire ten extra workers to handle the crush of cars.

In the past John's Auto Parts dismantled 100 cars a week. Now, each week the recycling complex handles up to 300 in order to handle the backlog.

It takes about four hours to dismantle a car, but we've boiled it down to 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

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