Boneyard

Almost completely surrounded by water, New Orleans is particularly vulnerable to nature. When Hurricane Katrina smashed ashore in 2005, the city's levees failed, transforming whole parishes into flooded boneyards.

Garbage is processed by an army of technologically advanced machines. In facilities called 'Murfs,' millions of tons of resources are diverted from the boneyard and given a second life.

Every year, millions of cars come to the end of the road. Though some may be retired and treasured as priceless engineering marvels, most are shredded into scrap to be transformed into new products.

Whether it's a huge Abrams tank being completely rebuilt or a piece of artillery saved from the scrapyard, they will all be transformed into new incarnations.

Criminals go to jail, but the tools of crime can end up in boneyards. Some become tools to fight crime while others transform into something good from the ruins of evil.

When a ship reaches the end of its useful life, it quickly goes from being the pride of the fleet to a liability. These veteran warriors are blown to pieces in weapons tests, or sold and cut up for scrap.

Modern ore processing machines are the largest, most sophisticated of their type in the world. When they wear out, they join the boneyards, waiting to be restored or scrapped for the furnace.

Find out what happens to our huge array of electronics once they are cast away, from being recycled for precious metals to rebirth in new forms.

When buildings become obsolete and are abandoned, they become boneyards, but often their materials are given new life, able to rise up again out of the dust.

Oil rigs function in some of the most hostile environments on the planet. At the end of their useful lives, the job of removing them to a boneyard to be scrapped is a challenging and expensive one.