Scrap the car scrap scheme…

In today’s environmentally minded society I am told that Government regulations intended to solve the car scrap problem are being openly flouted by unscrupulous businesses who are probably adding noxious materials to local landfill mass.

Official figures suggest that just 900,000 Certificates of Destruction (CoDs) and Notices of Destruction (NoDs) were issued in 2006 out of some 2 million cars that were taken off our roads.

By the look of it, more than a million scrap cars a year, many that used to belong to women drivers perhaps, could be reaching landfill together with their harmful oils, tyres, plastics and unused airbags. This despite End of Life Vehicle Regulations which came in to force in 2003, requiring cars to be properly de-polluted and recycled at licensed Authorised Treatment Facilities.

As I understand it, the problem comes through a loophole in DVLA records and is compounded by poor monitoring by the Environment Agency. Under a system called continuous licensing, owners are supposed to pay road tax until a CoD has been obtained from a licensed dismantler. However, a tick-box on the V5 registration form means that last owners, as well as unlicensed dismantlers and shredders, can simply de-register a vehicle. Un-licensed operators can then do precisely what they like to our environment; selling valuable scrap materials first of course then dumping the rest including untreated waste. I can’t see any way that they can be penalised or the last registered keeper, for that matter.

I don’t know what the solution is but I do know that most foxy lady drivers will be unhappy about this after working hard to run greener cars over the last year or so. I presume that insurance companies specify licensed dismantlers in their garage services dealings but I shall ask my contacts in due course…

I believe it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that, at the end of a car’s useful life, it is disposed of in as environmentally friendly a method as possible.

But until everyone has to or knows they won’t get away with dumping polluting materials in similar ways, this is another example of bad practice being allowed to succeed in an industry with an appalling reputation. My point is that there are many good garage businesses that should be benefiting from this business instead…it’s a case of getting the rules right and then spreading the word.

Dear Gordon - please put this on your ‘another fine mess…’ wishlist to be sorted out PDQ…

Tags: foxy lady drivers, good garages, green cars, insurance companies