Greening Quebec: Trade in an Old Car

Canada's car recycling program is not very well known. In fact, you may not have heard about it. Retire Your Ride is not nearly as glamorous as its American counterpart, but if you happen to be stuck with an old car you can no longer afford to maintain, it is worth looking into. Turning an older car into the program can earn its owner tax credits, cash refunds and discounts for alternative transportation. While the rewards are small, in today's economy it may be well worth considering recycling an old car, even if it is only to replace it with a bicycle or scooter or with public transit. Any of those options is certainly more environmentally friendly than driving an old car that is in bad shape.

Incentives
Rewards vary from province to province throughout Canada. If you are in the province of Quebec, you will receive a tax receipt for $100 and a one-year membership to the Association Québécoise de la Lutte Contre la Pollution. You can also choose from a cheque for $300 and several other options. Discounts against the purchase of a bicycle (standard or electric) are $790. Discounts on new vehicles run anywhere from $500 to $3,000. There is also the option of receiving free transit passes for 15 months, or of waiving subscription fees for car sharing service through CommunAuto in Montreal, the Quebec City area, Sherbrooke and the Outaouais.

Between January 2009 and June 30, 2010 some 23,715 vehicles from Quebec were accepted into the Retire Your Ride program, and 20,090 of them were retired permanently. The program runs until March 2011, and hopes to scrap a total of 50,000 cars a year throughout Canada. Cars are first stripped of fluids, mercury switches, batteries, tires and so on. Anything that cannot be recuperated for resale is recycled. On average, 75 percent of each car is recycled.

Eligibility
To be eligible for the Retire Your Ride program, a car must have been made in 1995 or before, and it must still be running. It must be licensed and plated, and the owner must be able to show it has been insured for at least the last six months.

Benefits to the environment
Need a little more incentive to trade in your old car? Cars made before 1995 put 19 times more greenhouse gases into the air than new cars. Getting your old clunker off the road and replacing it with a newer vehicle or an alternative mode of transport is good for the environment, which is good for you and all those who will come after you.

If you are a daily commuter, try plugging in your departure and destination into the STM's Tous azimuts trip plotter. You will be offered three different public transit routes that will get you to school or work. Look under the map on the right of your screen, and you will see a message telling you how much less carbon dioxide you will produce if you opt for public transit instead of driving this trip daily alone. Think of the difference it will make for future generations!

Source:
"Retire Your Ride." Government of Canada