Does the “Cash for Clunkers” bill have a landfill-stuffing downside? – Green Cars
Oh, come on. With a “Cash for Clunkers” bill being tossed around on Capitol Hill, the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) is trying to round up a posse to fight it. The reason? “These scrapped vehicles will more than likely be sent to landfills, creating more pollution, not less,” says AAIA president Aaron Lowe. “Providing incentives for motorists to have their current vehicles maintained for fuel efficiency would be a better use of federal money that would also benefit the environment.”
Here’s the thing. In America, 84 percent of cars (by weight) are recycled and 95 percent of vehicles go through the recycling process. So, while taking old cars off the road does increase the amount of stuff in landfills and also demands that more resources be taken out of the ground to build the new vehicles, it’s not like all these old cars will instantly end up in a junk yard. Plus, there is no way to reduce the overall amount of oil we burn in our cars without one of two things happening: we drive less or we get more efficient cars. I’m in favor of both options. While Lowe’s proposal to make the vehicles on the road as efficient as possible (tire pressure is a good and easy place to start), this “fight” smells more like a self-serving battle than anything else. The AAIA’s mission is to represent over 100,000 repair shops, parts stores and distribution outlets. With a bunch of new cars on the roads, they’re naturally going to have less work to do.
[Source: Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association]
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Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy, Green Daily
Does the “Cash for Clunkers” bill have a landfill-stuffing downside? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Does the "Cash for Clunkers" bill have a landfill-stuffing downside? – Green Cars