Impacts of a voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement program on environmental and distributional justice: An overview of the Canadian Retire Your Ride program in Québec
The main goal of a voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement program is to reduce emissions from older, more polluting vehicles by encouraging their owners to recycle them in exchange for different incentive rewards. Critics have argued that these programs create socio-economic and environmental imbalances in the case of low-income populations. A review of the literature reveals that few analyses of the impacts of such programs exist. Our article proposes a framework for reflection on the social distribution and environmental justice issues associated with recycling programs, for an analysis of the federal Retire Your Ride/Adieu Bazou program offered in Québec between 2009 and 2011. Although a proportionately greater number of older vehicules are owned by people in low income groups, their lower participation rates suggest either little interest or an incapacity to benefit from the vehicle retirement incentives offered. Funders of these programs need to ensure that members of low income groups have acceptable options to recycle their older vehicles.