The Sun’s Scrap ‘Em Now Campaign

Sun Motors has launched a new campaign that to scrap old bangers on British roads.  Other projects have already been rolled out across Europe in order to up car sales and save industry jobs.  Governments have offered citizens the chance to purchase a new car and received up to 2,500 Euros in return for their older motor.

Since November 2008, UK car bosses have been asking the government to do the same with a range of incentives too switch to cleaner cars – but so far ministers have failed to act.  March normally sees quite a hike in sales naturally, due to the new registration plate.

I’d like to look at this idea from another angle though.  If my current car (regardless of how old it is) is actually mechanically sound, does it do the environment any good at all to scrap it in favour of a new motor?  There are obvious benefits to the economy, but frankly I’d find it hard to justify the benefits to the environment – especially if my hypothetical car, whilst older, is still returning about 30mpg?

A scrap car is a car destroyed for life and frequently isn’t disposed of in the best, most environmentally friendly way (for instance, a lot of the materials won’t be recycled).  Yet again, as in so much of this kind of debate, I’m afraid we’re seeing common sense vs economy vs environment.