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My siblings tend to drive a car until it is begging to be put out of its misery. They finally give up on their vehicles once the cost of repairs exceeds the amount anyone would pay for the car itself. If you are like them, you may have an old, decrepit car that no one will take off your hands for free. So what do you do with the piece of junk that’s taking up space on your driveway?
Afterlife Option
Car Heaven is a national program designed to take older, less efficient cars off the road by giving their owners incentives like charity tax receipts and, depending on eligibility, $750 to put towards the purchase of a new GM car. The program was started by the Clean Air Foundation in 2005 with the goal of encouraging owners of older cars that produce much more pollution to get them off the road and exchange them for newer, more environmentally friendly vehicles. In addition to helping to reduce the nation’s emissions, Car Heaven has also raised over $2 million for the various charities they have partnered with, including The Canadian Diabetes Association, M.A.D.D., the Canadian Cancer Society and many other worthy causes. The program is sponsored by major corporations like GM and Imperial Oil, as well as transit systems, automotive recyclers and alternative transportation groups. Even The Bike Shop and Source for Sports contribute to the cause.
Clunker Counter
At the time of this writing, Car Heaven has helped to take 74,416 inefficient old cars off the road. So why should you donate your old beater to the cause?
The average life expectancy of our cars is approaching 225,000 kilometres, over 60,000 more than the average in the 1960s. Consequently, we are keeping our cars on the road longer and longer. These older cars are contributing a proportionately large amount of emissions and pollution. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last decade, let’s review how your car is damaging the environment.
The transportation industry is one of the leading producers of greenhouse gas emissions, including the unavoidable result of burning fuel, carbon dioxide. Your car likely produces about 2.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) for every litre of gasoline it uses. In a year, that adds up to three or four times its own weight in CO2 every year. The older your car gets, the more its fuel efficiency decreases. Your old car is also contributing to smog, especially if you live in an urban area. In Ontario alone, according to the Ontario Medical Association, smog-related complications lead to 5,800 deaths annually. If your vehicle is 12 years old or older, it is producing 17 times more smog than a brand new car.
Giving up your beater to an organization like Car Heaven will reduce emissions and smog, as well as ensure that your car and all its parts are disposed of properly and recycled responsibly.
According to the Car Heaven website, they prevented 8,710 tonnes of carbon monoxide, 2,105 tonnes of smog-forming emissions and 26,910 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2006.
The Recycling Process
Want to know what happens to your car once Car Heaven takes it away? The first step is to drain and dispose of or recycle all of the fluids your car uses. This means that an average volume of 19 litres of fluids will be prevented from contaminating any groundwater. In addition, gas tanks, batteries, mercury switches and tires are taken from your car and dealt with appropriately.
Next the automotive recycler will remove any reusable parts from your car that can be used as replacements on newer models. None of the parts that contribute to pollution are reused; instead they take parts such as body panels, wheels and windows.
Once everything useful has been removed and the fluids disposed of, the car is crushed flat and shipped to shredders that can reduce it to fist-sized pieces in a matter of minutes. From here the valuable metal pieces can be removed for recycling, but what remains (non-metallic parts referred to as Auto Shredder Residue) is sent to the landfill, so it is important that all the hazardous materials are removed from the car beforehand.
What’s In It For Me?
So the charity gets a donation and the environment is helped out in the meantime, but what benefit is there for you in donating your car? Well, other than the happy, fuzzy feeling you get from contributing to worthy causes and saving the earth, you can also get a variety of coupons, transit passes, credits and tax receipts, depending on which part of the country you live in. Visit the Car Heaven website for a breakdown of what you can get in exchange for your piece of junk car.
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