I'm building a small collection of old car parts that are really only good for scrap. Tensioners that stopped tensioning, sensors that stopped sensing, broken interior pieces… those sorts of things.

I usually throw them in with the cans and newspapers, and let the guys at the recycling center figure it out. The guys on the recycling truck usually accept that stuff (or maybe they just don't see it).

There are e-recyclers for e-waste; is there anything like this for car parts? The only other idea I had was smuggling parts into junkyards.

Technically you shouldn't throw away car parts in normal trash. However you could.

Smuggle into the yard? LOL just tell them you are bringing in 15 tons of scrap metal and they'd thank you.

You could save a lot of the metal etc up and scrap it for money, you'd want a decent amount though. In your case..just open the can and toss those couple small things in the trash.

Running to the scrap yard for a few small things isn't worth the gas. I build up over a year or so and then make one big run. Walked away with about $200 already.

If you do want to save it for scrap you get more money for stripping the metal to each componant and seperate. Like any Aluminium parts you want to strip the plastic and bolts off of it. Look at this way. Copper wire is about 90 cents a pound you strip it to the copper you looking at $3.50a pound. For the amount you have I would just bring it to the local recycle center and call it a day.