A new scheme in the UK offers to plant dozens of trees whenever someone recycles their old car through the program.
Called "Scrap Car, Plant Tree", it's aimed at getting people to donate their old, inefficient vehicles to raise money for the creation of inner-city "green spaces".
According to Earthtechling, the scheme's founders know that such a program does rely on the good will of its participants, since even the most dilapidated of cars still has a certain scrap value if sold privately or junked.
As a result, Scrap Car, Plant Tree aims to make it as easy as possible for people to donate their cars. Interested parties simply fill out a form on the scheme's website, providing details about the car and a suitable collection time.
The car will then be taken within one to three days. Cars will either be scrapped or sold at auction.
The latter might seem odd given the concept of removing less efficient vehicles from the road, but the benefits of breaking up something roadworthy are equally dubious--and either way, even a scrapped car provides the funds to plant 13 trees in an urban environment. A roadworthy car, sold at auction for more money, could provide even more trees.
The program isn't dissimilar to a scheme in Colorado, known as "Trees For Trade-Ins".
Pre-1990s cars can be donated to the Clean the Air Foundation, whereby the ReForest Colorado program will plant a tree in an area affected by natural disasters or in another location that needs tree cover. In this scheme, the trade-in car is scrapped forever.
Both groups provide a novel, easy way of removing older, unloved cars from the roads while aiding the environment--and we look forward to similar schemes appearing in other places.
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