New Government rules on vehicle disposal favour legitimate services over illegal, polluting scrap dealers. Services like Giveacar, that offers free green disposal or salvage auction of cars to raise money for charity will benefit from the crackdown. Their service will be essential in helping the public meet the guidelines at no personal cost.
North West MEP Chris Davies has succeeded in putting rogue scrap dealers, responsible for dumping ‘hazardous’ car waste, out of business. Whilst the environmental consequences of car use are well known proper car disposal receives very little publicity. The loophole in Government policy allowing people to claim their car had been ‘self-scrapped’ made it possible for rogue scrap dealers to exist. The UK has long committed in principle to the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive that specifies standards for End-of-Life Vehicle treatment sites but this change is necessary to put this commitment into practice.
Car owners can no longer select ‘self-scrapped’ in their logbook and relinquish legal responsibility of their vehicle. Instead they are legally obliged to acquire a Certificate of Destruction (PDF) from the DVLA. Each year two million cars leave UK roads and only 1 million are issued with a Certificate of Destruction. The remaining 1 million likely fall into the hands of these illegal scrap merchants.
‘The Government move is very welcome, it is disgusting that oil, brake fluid and tyres are just dumped by these illegitimate services. Just one litre of oil or brake fluid can contaminate 100 litres of water and the average car has 22 litres. These illegal services can undercut legitimate services because they don’t have the same costs that arise from proper depollution and recycling of a car,’ said Tom Chance, the Founder and Director of Giveacar.
Giveacar offers a free service but still customers are lost to these illegal scrap dealers and the environment pays the price. In contrast to illegal scrap dealers Giveacar uses only Authorised Treatment Facilities where 85% of the weight of the car is recycled. The service is free for the car owner and there is an added twist – 80% of money generated from the car through scrap or salvage auction is donated to a UK registered charity chosen by the car donor.
Chris Davies’ work has led to important steps in the direction of an environmentally sound car life cycle.
To find out more about the featured service, Giveacar take a look online at www.giveacar.co.uk or call them on 0200 011 1664.
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