In the United States, there are two primary methods utilized for handling the approximately 8 million cars that are scrapped each year. Roughly half of these vehicles undergo shredding, a process that involves removing components like radiators, batteries, engines, gas tanks, and seats before tearing the automobiles into small chunks. These chunks are then separated magnetically to produce two fractions: ferrous scrap and nonmagnetic material. The other half of scrapped cars are processed manually, with nonferrous, steel, and cast iron parts being removed by hand from burned or unburned vehicles. The stripped car bodies are then compressed into bales or sheared. In both methods, starters, generators, and alternators are typically removed, although the prevalence of generators over alternators is decreasing due to the standardization of alternators in most cars since 1968. It is estimated that the annual scrap of starters, generators, and alternators contains approximately 20,000 tons of copper and 130,000 tons of iron. There have been advancements in incineration and dismantling techniques, with scrap processors gradually adopting improved methods.