On June 4, 2008, the Government of Canada announced the “National Vehicle Scrappage Program,” which would create incentives for residents of Canada to surrender their old, higher-polluting vehicles and promote cleaner transportation alternatives. The desired result was cleaner air and a healthier environment. The program launched in February 2009 as “Retire Your Ride.” The program goal was to retire at least 50,000 vehicles per year between 2008 and 2011.
It was initiated by the Government of Canada, the Clean Air Foundation, and its provincial partners.
In January 2009, SCRAP-IT assumed responsibility as the BC delivery partner for the national Retire Your Ride program. The national program is funded by Environment Canada and managed by the Clean Air Foundation. The national program provided significant added funding to SCRAP-IT enabling more vehicles to be scrapped across the province.
In order to deliver the RYR program in BC SCRAP-IT had to develop multiple new systems and processes, hire staff, develop a communications strategy, supporting IT systems and financial systems and ensure all the required business processes and controls were in place.
In June of 2011 UBC, Sauder School of Business completed a study on the SCRAP-IT Program, the analysis document can be found here: An Analysis of British Columbia’s SCRAP-IT Program: Emissions Savings, Participation, and Transportation Choice