Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc.

Bumpers

Bumper Cover Recycling

One of the important problems facing North America, and the entire world, is the rapidly growing amount of waste material. Coupled with a lack of available landfills to handle the increasing volume being generated, it is an issue of monumental proportions. Modern complex plastics that will mostly likely never decompose are an increasing element in this mix.

The almost universal use of durable plastics used extensively in today’s automotive bumpers and covers is certainly adding to this problem. Current design trends ensure that most new vehicles will have plastic bumpers. Adding to the concern is that every year 2.5 million of these plastic bumper covers are replaced because of collision damage and, in many cases, the damaged bumper cover is unnecessarily discarded and destined for a landfill.

A Bumper Cover Recycled by Keystone is the Better Choice!

Thousands of vehicle owners, collision center technicians and insurance adjustors have chosen to use recycled plastic bumpers rather than just replace them. And for good reason. A recycled bumper means:

REDUCED WASTE. By reusing non-degradable plastic bumper covers that would otherwise be sent to overflowing landfills.

ENERGY SAVINGS. Along with reduced use of petroleum-based resins that go into the molding of a new replacement bumper.

Keystone Automotive Industries, a pioneer in the bumper cover recycling industry, has developed the systems, trained personnel and techniques in order to provide recycled plastic bumpers that meet the exacting quality standards of all our customers and the insurance industry. Until recently, many of the specialized resins, welding rods and adhesives used in the recycling process were simply not available, making early attempts at repairing plastic bumpers unsuccessful. Unsatisfactory quality forced collision repair centers and insurance adjusters to think that their only choice was a new, original equipment replacement.

No longer. Today the smarter solution is to choose a recycled bumper cover over new replacement cover. That’s because Keystone's long experience in the recycling industry has provided us with the knowledge and talent necessary to produce premium quality recycled bumpers.

Impressive Cost Savings

The ongoing recycling of any given product must pass the test of economic feasibility. Plastic bumper cover recycling gets an “A-plus” every time, with economic benefits that are as impressive as the resulting environmental benefits.

Through their premiums, auto insurance policyholders pay an estimated $400 million each year for plastic bumper replacements. If these damaged bumpers were recycled instead of replaced, the cost savings would be approximately $140 million! More importantly, our nation’s landfills would have 10 million pounds less of non-degradable plastic waste to deal with each year.

The Bumper Cover Recycling Process

Keystone’s recycling process begins with “thermal reforming” using high temperature soak tanks to soften the bumper material and chemically clean each bumper cover, returning it to its originally-molded shape. Each cover is then stripped to insure good paint adhesion.

Now, the bumper cover is ready for our expert repair technicians. These technicians perform the complete repair process on any given bumper cover and follow it up to its final primer coat of paint.
Double-sided airless plastic welding is the primary method of repair used in the Keystone process. First, our technician tapes and glues the torn area, holding it secure. Next, the repair technician uses a die grinder to cut a groove in the torn area so that a special plastic welding rod can achieve deep penetration. This process is repeated on the reverse side of the torn area to further strengthen the welded joint.

After completion of the structural repairs, the bumper is sanded and a flexible filler is applied to level the surface.

The bumper is now sanded using successively finer grits until a smooth scratch free surface is obtained. A primer coat is then applied and the technician performs a detailed inspection and repairs any surface imperfections.

After sanding, the bumper receives a final application of durable black coating which serves as a prime coat for color-coated bumpers or as a finish coat in the case of a black bumper.