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Technology for the Environment |
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Cash for Clunkers was wildly successful for its participation rate and ability to jump-start automobile sales. The program retired almost 700,000 vehicles in just over 2 months and, due to the requirement to purchase a fuel-efficient vehicle, translated to a 61% better fuel efficiency for participating vehicles and 0.7% overall. What this program did not necessarily address, are the participants with older vehicles that didn’t want to purchase a new car, and could have been incented to retire the vehicle in favor of environmental choices such as mass transit and car sharing. The program was also focused for a short period of time, based on available budget, so this overwhelmed the ability to handle the high volumes from an administrative and logistic standpoint. The onus for submitting eligibility information to the government was with the Automobile Dealer, while it seems there was an opportunity for self-service through the program website could have expanded the eligible participants. With so many additional vehicles requiring dismantling and proper disposal, the US Automotive Recyclers charged with recycling these vehicles were inundated with much higher than normal vehicle numbers. You can read a full review of these issues on our partner’s blog.
http://autorecyclers.blogspot.com/2009/11/retire-your-ride-canadas-vehicle.html
In 2007, the Canadian government agreed to a significant investment of $92M to run a National Vehicle Scrappage Program to provide incentive for the early retirement of older, high polluting vehicles. A program of this nature had been operational since the late-90s. In January of 2009, the program was launched and offered the ability for participants to sign up online and receive incentives such as transit passes, car sharing memberships and discounts off the purchase of a bicycle. This well-managed program has a strong partnership with the Automotive Recyclers of Canada who ensure the vehicles are recycled properly. The program is available for 3 years and aims to properly recycle 150,000 vehicles during that time.
