The Cars 4 Causes Blog.

Last week’s conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) succeeded in shedding more light on reducing and eliminating greenhouse gases, a cause that Cars 4 Causes® has been supporting for over a decade through car donation. We realize that our individual actions have global implications, and with the Cars 4 Causes Clean Air Program®, we are doing our part to create a cleaner, greener future.

Since its inception in 1998, the Cars 4 Causes Clean Air Program® has allowed donors to make a positive impact on the health of our environment through generous car donations of their older, less fuel efficient vehicles while simultaneously generating a much needed financial benefit for thousands of charitable organizations throughout the United States.

We’ve gathered some current statistics to give you a better idea of what the Cars 4 Causes Clean Air Program® is doing, and what you can do to help.

• According to the Carbon Fund Organization, unleaded gasoline has 19.56 lbs CO2/gallon.

• According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average U.S. car usage is 12,000 miles per year.

• While the Environmental Protection Agency’s reports, states that the overall average fuel economy for passenger vehicles of 20.3 mpg. We feel the recent Cash for Clunkers program is more representative of the type of car that we send to our Clean Air Program®. Therefore, according to http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2009/dot13309.htm, the average mpg of a Cash for Clunkers trade-in was 15.8 mpg.

• According to http://www.carbonfootprint.com/plantingtrees.html, an average tree offsets 1 ton of CO2 in its lifetime (100 years)

Based on these assumptions, the average donated car emits nearly 15,000 lbs, (or 7.5 tons) of CO2 every year.  In 2009 alone, Cars 4 Causes®received a total of 3,110 car donations that were sent to its Clean Air Program®, and we’ve recycled a total of 36,692 cars since the Clean Air Program® ‘s inception.

That means we’ve kept over 46 million lbs (23,000 tons) of CO2 from entering the atmosphere in 2009. Since we started, the Cars 4 Causes Clean Air Program® has kept over 545 million lbs of CO2 per year from entering the atmosphere!

These numbers are staggeringly large, but to put it into perspective, it would take almost 272,000 trees 100 years to offset that amount of carbon!

While you may not be able to plant eight trees every year to offset your carbon footprint, you can certainly donate your car to Cars 4 Causes, and put an end to those emissions for good.

Cars 4 Causes®has always made an effort to improve the health of the environment. We recognize the need for a simple, cost effective way to reduce CO2 emissions, and we are thankful for the awareness that the recent conference has brought to this issue.  We hope that more people will realize the need to reduce these harmful emissions and chose donate car to Cars 4 Causes Clean Air Program® as an easy, proven solution to this global problem.

We love cars, from classic cars to new hybrid cars, and even more, we love how those cars, when donated to charity, can help those in need. As part of today’s national Blog Action Day on climate change, too, we’ve been pondering the role that car donation can play in cleaning up the environment.

We think car donations can play a big role and a multi-dimensional one in helping to clean up the planet.

When a car donor calls Cars 4 Causes® wanting to donate an old car that’s spewing and sputtering fumes into the air – one that cannot pass a smog test, one that is a high polluter – then a whole chain of events is set in motion. We pick up the car, which gets it off the road; we feel good about that because we’ve removed a source of pollution.

The car donor chooses a charity to benefit from the donation. And maybe she chooses one of the many environmental organizations on our supported charities list. Maybe not. There are many ways to help the environment, and some of these are by bringing relief to people threatened by climate-related disasters such as famine, flooding, and drought.

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse

We scrap and recycle the old donated car. Some of its parts get salvaged and reused. The bulk of it gets recycled, turning up later in faucets, doorknobs, refrigerators, washing machines, bicycles, and of course, in new (more environmentally friendly) vehicles. The process of recycling a vehicle is another link in the chain that does its part in reducing the human impact on our environment.

Charities Doing Their Part to Clean Up the Environment

Most of the car donations (and other vehicle donations too) that come to Cars 4 Causes® are still viable transportation. But we realized early in our life as “The Charity That Gives To Charities(R)” that part of our work would be dealing with cars that were simply not roadworthy. We set up our Clean Air Program® to take care of this segment of car donations.

We’ve recycled thousands of cars off the roads over the years, and as we ponder this day when bloggers throughout the world are thinking about climate change and humanity’s role in it, we know our efforts are just a small piece of a larger global consciousness. We’re delighted that so many people around the world are pondering our planet along with us today. So what are you waiting for? Donate car today!

Our small, individual efforts add up; together, we can make a huge difference.

Wondering what happens to dear old Betsy once you donate her? Judging from our phone calls, many people do want to know where their old car goes, so we thought we’d share what happens here when a car donation arrives. Whether it’s a relatively new car or a very old family friend, it gets star treatment at Cars 4 Causes®.

When you donate, you determine what charity benefits from your vehicle donation, and we make sure we make the most of the donation for both you and your charity. (See our list of over 13,400 charities.) Some cars not designated with a charity enter our Give-Away Program that directly benefits needy individuals.

Choosing the Best Route for Your Car Donation

We have our own sales locations where we evaluate the car to determine its route.

• When it is cost-effective, we make major or minor mechanical repairs, and then we detail the cars and advertise them for sale. The cars, vans, trucks and other vehicles are sold, and then they move on to their new owners.
• Some cars go to auction, as this is the best route for them, for the best return.
• If the cars are not road-worthy, we recycle them through salvage and scrap channels. The scrap is recycled, turning up next in a surprisingly wide array of products – your new bicycles, your new appliances, new cars.

Your Tax Deduction

At the completion of any of these sales processes, you receive a tax deduction receipt for the donation. And, because of these evaluation and sales processes, Cars 4 Causes® The Charity That Gives To Charities® receives the highest average return for you in the industry! You benefit from this success in your tax write-off, and your charity benefits with a corresponding donation.

So, whether it’s old Betsy or that slightly used car in the garage, your donation is honored and appreciated all along the donation route.  Thank you for your generosity.

Automobiles are currently one of the most recycled commodities. The average vehicle is made up of about 65% steel. The steel industry recycles more than 14 million tons of steel from end-of-life vehicles annually. Even fluids such as oils or greases, and coolants and refrigerants from the air-conditioning units may be re-used by the recyclers or sold to a licensed facility for re-use. Rubber automotive tires are re-sold, some are removed to stockpiles for later recycling. Recycled rubber is part of many end-products that contain rubber components. There are three major steps taken when recycling a car.

Step One – Drainage and Removal of Fluids

Preparing the vehicle for dismantling is vital to proper recycling. Fluids must be drained and properly disposed of. Gasoline is drained out, and the gas tank removed; to be used for the recycled metal. The average car contains about 19 liters of operating fluids. These need to be properly handled to avoid contaminating the environment. Dangerous chemicals such as the mercury in trunk and hood light switches and automotive batteries require special handling. The tires are also removed and recycled in this stage.

Step Two- Parts Removal for Re-Use

Many parts, depending on the age and condition, can be reconditioned for re-use. The car is dismantled and the re-sale parts are identified. Recycling car parts decreases the need for the manufacture of new parts. Some examples are whole front and back ends, body panels, wheels, windows and windshields. Parts that are related to the emissions systems are not re-used.

Step Three- Materials Recovery/ Recycling of Materials

Once the fluids and reusable items are removed, the car is crushed. The flattened hulk will be shipped to a shredder that will shred the car in a matter of minutes into small handfuls of metal. This generates three streams that are magnetically separated into iron, steel, and non-ferrous metal such as aluminum and what is known as Auto Shredder Residue(ASR), or “fluff”. This non-metallic material is composed of rubber, plastic, glass, foam, and electrical wiring. This is why it is vital to ensure that all hazardous materials are removed prior to this step in the process.

There is a huge market worldwide for secondary commodities. Many of these are automobile parts. There is even a commodities exchange that sets prices and trades these materials on the world market. The largest markets for scrap metal and steel are currently in India and China.

My next post will talk about a few of the items that are made from recycled car parts.