Program on hold until 2012, funds completely spent after 18,000 polluting
vehicles successfully taken off roads.
By SHARON UDASINcars 311(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Following what was deemed a successful year-and- a-half of receiving 18,000 old vehicles for scrapping, the Environmental Protection Ministry said that it will temporarily suspend the program until the beginning of 2012, when it receives a new budget to compensate for its currently exhausted supply.The program is due to recommence on January 1, when the ministry acquires NIS 17 million worth of additional funds for the project, which encourages owners of vehicles older than 20 years to bring in their cars for scrapping and NIS 3,000 in compensation, the ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, however, the ministry stressed that those car owners who have already revoked their vehicle registrations in the Licensing Ministry should still bring their cars to the scrapping site for compensation in the next 48 hours, the statement added.
The program has already brought about a reduction of about 3 percent of annual air pollution emissions stemming from transportation by taking these gas-guzzlers off the road, and has also contributed 15,000 tons of iron and other materials to the country’s broader recycling efforts, according to the ministry.In addition, reductions in damages caused by the air pollution have resulted in a total market savings of NIS 30 million annually, the ministry statement added.“The program is designed to remove from the road every year thousands of vehicles that emit large quantities of air pollution and are unsafe,” the statement said.
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