Why Recycle?
It’s Time To Get Your Older, Higher Polluting Vehicle Off the Road
Retire Your Ride is a partner program between the Canadian and Australian Auto Recycling associations. It has its roots in the National Vehicle Scrappage Program introduced by the Canadian government to provide incentives for people to trade in their older, higher-polluting vehicles, resulting in cleaner air and a healthier environment.
There are currently 20 million light vehicles registered for use on Australian roads. The average lifespan of a vehicle in the 1960s was just less than 162,000 km. Today this is approaching 225,000 km. This means that Australians can and often do keep their vehicles on the road for longer.
Proper recycling of your older vehicle can make a positive environmental impact. By participating in Retire Your Ride, you will reduce damage to the environment, make extra money, and support local green businesses.
Older vehicles are typically less fuel-efficient than new vehicles of a similar size and lack the latest vehicle technology for cutting air pollution and reducing smog-forming emissions. As a result, the fuel consumption and emissions are usually greater for older vehicles. These vehicles also contain hazardous fluids and materials like ozone depleting refrigerants that need to be treated responsibly at the end of their life.
With the introduction of new technologies, newer vehicles can be much more fuel efficient than their older counterparts. By keeping fuel consumption in mind, you could save 20-40% per year in costs by changing from your old car to a new model in the same category.
Retire Your Ride is the only national program that works with vehicle recyclers who adhere to the Australian Automotive Recycler’s Environmental Code. By rewarding these environmental leaders within the Automotive Recycling Industry, Retire Your Ride is stimulating business in the green economy.
Air Quality
Tail pipe emissions and smog
Smog is an increasing problem in Australian cities and one which affects the health of many Australians. Across Australia, cars, trucks and buses are major sources of smog pollution, especially in densely populated urban areas. Smog-forming pollutants include nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and fine particulate matter. Vehicles from 2003 and older can be up to 39x more polluting than a newer vehicle!
Improvements in the design of vehicle exhaust systems have reduced pollution from individual vehicles significantly over the past 25 years. Smog causing emissions, specifically HCs and NOx, from the total auto sector are currently in decline as newer, cleaner vehicles replace older, higher emitting vehicles in the fleet.
The auto industry has introduced five successive generations of environmental equipment on new vehicles. Today’s motor vehicles reduce smog-causing emissions by as much as 99% from uncontrolled levels.
