Trailer Park Boy clears the air, retires his ride

Old jalopies need no longer sit around growing rusty. A new incentive fueled by Clean Air Nova Scotia offers rewards for derelict vehicles. The Nova Scotia launch of “Retire Your Ride,” took place June 3 at Merlin's Auto Salvage in Greenhill.

John Dunsworth (Jim Lahey of The Trailer Park Boys television fame) was the first Nova Scotian to hit pay dirt. It was a sobering moment to see his ole' faithful ground to a heap of scrap metal, but he says the rewards were just too good to pass up. Dunsworth is now $300 richer and feeling a whole lot better about the environment. “It was a good truck,” he said of his 1993 Mazda quarter ton. “I' m really sad to see it go. I carried my trailer on that and a ton of rock and gravel over the years. I could winch an 800 pound rock on to that thing.”

He was feeling pretty sentimental, but keeping her on the road was a risky business; recycling made more sense. “It would have been tough to make safety inspection for more one year, let alone two, and I didn't feel right about keeping it on the road.”

Clean Air Nova Scotia wants to see even more old vehicles hit the scrap yards this year. Julia Pelton, regional coordinator for Retire Your Ride, says that vehicles made prior to 1995 release more pollutants into the air than newer models and account for half of the smog-forming emissions caused by personal vehicle use. “When you consider that, in Nova Scotia alone, there are over 100,000 higher polluting vehicles you can see how this program has the potential to make a significant difference in improving our air quality and overall environment.”

In exchange for retiring your ride the program offers incentives which may include a free tow; $300 in cash; a free transit pass; coupons for car sharing programs, or discounts on bicycle buys.

John Dunsworth added that any attempt to mitigate the damage we are doing to the environment is worthwhile. “The thing is, with the money-crunch on right now, a lot of focus has moved away from the environment which in my mind is the number one important issue of our time,” he said. “It won't be long and gas-powered vehicles will be a thing of the past.”

Although the price of metal has dropped to half its market value over the past year, Merlin's Auto Salvage is seeing a good trade. The scrap yard recycles about 1,200 vehicles a year, according to owner Don Dowe. Storage is an issue because they operate a relatively small yard. “We offer free haul away and get people’s cars out of their yards, but we crush them up pretty quick.”

Dowe added these days regulations imposed by Environment Canada and the Automotive Recyclers of Canada are more stringent and require all hazardous waste such as oil, gas and washer fluids to be bled before junking.

In fact, 75 per cent of a vehicle on the chopping block can be recycled, he said. “Some parts we can resell and some just go to the crusher, but either way we are getting old polluting cars off the road and processing them in an environmentally friendly way.”

The vehicles crushed that day are on their way to China, where the scrap metal will be used to manufacture everything from new cars to washing machines.

The national Retire Your Ride program encourages the use of sustainable transportation by providing participants with rewards that will help them make more environmentally responsible choices. The goal of Clean Nova Scotia is to retire 50,000 vehicles by March 2011.