Lucky Lady Trades Old Banger for Brand New Hatchback!

Jeanette Swan, a teacher at Inverness High School, did the right thing recently when she scrapped her old car at her nearest Cartakeback Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) in Inverness, a business which has been specially licensed by SEPA (the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) to treat and recycle unwanted vehicles when they reach the end of their life.

After disposing of her old car, Mrs Swan entered a free competition via the Cartakeback.com website and thought nothing of it.  That was until she received a phone call telling her that she had won the first prize of a brand new car!

The competition, which was run by Cartakeback.com, the UK's largest vehicle manufacturer backed car recycling network, was designed to raise awareness amongst the public concerning the correct disposal of cars once they reach the end of their useful life.  Anyone who recycled their old car at one of 250 Cartakeback Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATFs) or arranged to have their old car collected, between April and July of this year, had the chance to win a brand new Mitsubishi Colt CZ1.  Also up for grabs was a selection of runner up prizes including a TomTom satellite navigation system and £500 worth of Halfords vouchers.

The keys to the brand new Mitsubishi Colt CZ1 were presented to Mrs Swan at Phoenix Mitsubishi in Stirling by Graham Price of Cartakeback.com who had the following advice, "When disposing of an old car, people should ensure that they use a licensed facility which will make sure that a Certificate of Destruction is issued and that their vehicle will be recycled according to the regulations, not just for their own benefit, but for that of the environment".

When asked what her initial reaction was, Mrs Swan said "I'm delighted to have been rewarded for doing the right thing".

Recent government figures indicate that as little as half of the estimated two million vehicles arising each year are correctly de-registered and issued with a DVLA Certificate of Destruction.  This service can only be carried out by an ATF which has been licensed by SEPA and approved by DVLA, but without this certificate a vehicle owner could be fined under new laws on continuous registration, and could even remain liable for any illegal activities which may be carried out in the vehicle.  These figures indicate that around one million old cars could potentially be being disposed of illegally, which may not only lead to problems for the vehicle's owner, but may also have a detrimental effect on the environment as hazardous materials such as oil, tyres and batteries are less likely to be disposed of correctly.

According to figures which were released recently by BERR, the department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the DTI), almost two thirds of ‘independent' ATFs (those which are not part of a vehicle manufacturer's network such as Cartakeback), failed to meet the recycling targets of 85% per vehicle which were set by the EU with the aim of reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfill sites.

When disposing of their car at a Cartakeback ATF, customers receive a Certificate of Destruction, which is issued using an electronic link with the DVLA vehicle registration database in Swansea; this ensures that they will no longer be legally responsible for their old car. 

All scrap cars which are treated by Cartakeback are de-polluted in strict accordance with the end of life vehicle regulations, which includes the removal of all hazardous materials such as oils, coolants, tyres and batteries, and the detonation of pyrotechnic devices such as air bags.  The materials which have been recovered during this process are then re-used or recycled. 

Following the de-pollution process, the metallic content of each vehicle is recovered at specialist metal recovery operations, otherwise known as ‘shredders' which rip the shells, complete with engines, into fist size fragments of metal.  Historically the remainder of the materials, largely non-metallic items such as window, glass and plastic from interior trim and bumpers, have been disposed of in landfill sites. Cartakeback however is able to achieve the recycling targets of 85% per vehicle, by weight, through the recycling of these non-metallic materials using post shredder technologies.  This increased recycling not only means that less material ends up in landfill, but also reduces the amount of energy required in the production of new materials and therefore lower levels of CO₂ are emitted

Customers can locate their nearest Authorised Treatment Facility, which includes licensed car scrap yards and dismantlers, or obtain an instant quotation for their vehicle to be collected via the Cartakeback.com website at http://www.cartakeback.com/.

Runners up in the competition included Ian Rennie who won a TomTom Sat Nav and the following people who won Halfords Vouchers: Michelle Hudson- £150, Carrie Kwasniewski- £100, Paul Game- £50, Joel Gray- £50, Christine Brown- £50, James Wilson- £50, Ian Russell- £25 and Dennis York- £25.

The next Cartakeback Win a Car Competition will be open to customers who dispose of their old vehicle at any one of the 39 Cartakeback ATFs in Scotland and will give one lucky customer the chance to celebrate the New Year with a new car!  See www.cartakeback.com for full terms and conditions.

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Cartakeback.com Limited is trusted by vehicle manufacturers to act as their exclusive service provider in the UK and guarantees a compliant vehicle disposal service at no cost to the vehicle's last owner; in fact in many cases Cartakeback is even able to offer customers a payment in exchange for their vehicle.  Contracted brands include Alfa Romeo, Alpine, Aston Martin, Audi, Austin, Bentley, Bugatti, Citroen, Dacia, DAF, Datsun, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Ford, Hillman, Humber, Hyundai, Iveco, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lancia, Land Rover, LDV, Leyland, Leyland DAF, Lotus, Matra, Mazda, MG, MG X-Power, Mitsubishi, Morris, Nissan, Perodua, Peugeot, Proton, Renault, Renault Trucks , Riley, Rover, Seat, Simca, Singer, Skoda, Sunbeam, Talbot, Tata, Tatra, Triumph, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial, Volvo and Wolseley, representing over 70% of vehicles on the road.  Cartakeback also treats all other makes of vehicle to the same high standard.

The Cartakeback network continues to grow and currently consists of around 250 ATFs.  Out of the 110 ATFs which are registered in Scotland, 39 are part of the Cartakeback network and are responsible for recycling around 75,000 of the estimated 175,000 vehicles scrapped (or 62,000 tonnes of material) in Scotland each year.

Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions and links to several sources of further information are available on the FAQs page of the Cartakeback website at http://www.cartakeback.com/en/faqs.asp.

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