A new program gives ARA and CAR members access to inventory, at best pricing. Discover how to participate in this vehicle retirement program that is good for the consumer and great for automotive recycling’s image.
We’re excited to launch SHiFT but it’s only the first step. We need ARA members to help us build and grow this program.
Every day, we see more headlines about the earth in crisis: growing carbon emissions, overcrowding, the loss of biodiversity in plants and animals and more. We all need a good news injection and a positive story about the environment. We think that this positive story is OUR story. For decades the good work that has been done by auto recyclers on behalf of the planet has been largely missing from conversations about sustainability and environmental stewardship. Auto recycling continues to be the greatest recycling success story never told. While Tesla gobbles up headlines and media focuses on the “EV future,” auto recyclers go about their important business of making the world a cleaner, safer and more sustainable place to live unit by unit.
A SHiFT is Happening
What does the future look like for ICE vehicles? The journey to cleaner air isn’t achieved overnight and transportation transformation isn’t a single step. Clean air goals aren’t fulfilled by legislatures or automakers, they are met one car at a time. Auto recyclers are a key component and will continue to be for all vehicles produced.
SHiFT the Narrative
It’s time for professional auto recyclers to take our place in the conversation about clean air and environmental goal setting. In an effort to carve out, count and lead, ARA and the Automotive Recycling Training Institute (ARTI) are proud to announce an ambitious environmental initiative: the SHiFT Vehicle Retirement Initiative.TM
SHiFT Vehicle Retirement InitiativeTM (SHiFT VRI) is a partnership committed to helping consumers and companies RESPONSIBLY RETIRE vehicles with strict environmental protocols from start to finish. The program was created to deliver a trusted resource – ARA and its membership – for reducing carbon footprints. SHiFT allows vehicle owners to “participate” in the recycling of their vehicles while ARA members take advantage of a huge economic opportunity for their businesses.
Why SHiFT?
Our customers want this:
a) Consumers are passionate about the environment.
b) 75 percent of U.S. consumers are concerned about the environmental impact of the products they buy.
c) 1 in 2 consumers are willing to pay more for a product branded sustainable.
Why Now?
Every industry is taking up the mantle; mining, manufacturing, labor unions, associations are all talking about supporting ESG (Environmental Social Governance) goals. To date, professional automobile recycling has been held outside of these conversations. SHiFT allows our members of all sizes to have a plan and measurable contribution to the changes coming our way while seizing the opportunity to increase access to vehicles that may not otherwise hit their yards.
SHiFT Will:
• Provide ARA members with exclusive access to inventory
• Deliver a real and measurable environmental benefit
• Provide customers with a direct relationship to professional auto recycling
• Engage ARA members
• Improve vehicle flow
• Amplify ARA and member voices as environmental authorities
SHiFT the Carbon Narrative
Auto recyclers have pulled the oldest and heaviest polluting vehicles out of circulation for decades, harvesting parts and recycling materials but we’ve done so without tracking the net environmental benefit. SHiFT helps us to do this one car at a time. The timing is perfect, over the last few years the data surrounding the industry’s environmental initiatives has been easier to access. In 2019 the Massachusetts Automotive Recyclers Association commissioned Worcester Polytechnic Institute to perform a study on the environmental benefit of recycling a car. The study highlighted the measurable benefit of auto recycling and a nationwide study is now underway. These measurements are a template of the work SHiFT will perform. The program will count the net environmental benefit in terms of the carbon avoid through auto recycling.
SHiFT should be a source of pride, a nationwide recycling initiative led by America’s most experienced and innovative environmental stewards: professional auto recyclers. SHiFT enables auto recyclers to participate and be a leader in the conversations regarding the future of the transportation industry.
Paying It Forward
Vehicles coming through the SHiFT program will also influence future generations of auto recyclers. Every vehicle processed supports the ARTI and is invested in future educational and training needs for the industry.
How We SHiFT
SHiFT was developed with input from ARA and ARTI leaders over the past year and is a voluntary program for members willing and able to agree to the necessary protocols per unit.
How Does It Work?
1. A vehicle comes into the SHiFT funnel from a consumer, fleet or enterprise
2. The SHiFT Opportunity is pushed to member network
3. Members are offered unit at preferred pricing tiers
4. Member accepts or rejects
5. Unit is assigned with a pickup order
6. Unit is picked up and logged in mBid
7. Affidavit must be completed affirming that the engine will not be resold (though parts can be removed and sold)
We’re excited to launch SHiFT but it’s only the first step. We need ARA members to help us build and grow this program. The transportation industry is at a pivotal inflection point and in order to ensure professional auto recyclers’ continued role in the life cycle management of all vehicles – ICE and EV – and future economic prosperity, we need to grow and evolve with the industry. Professional auto recyclers actively participating in the processing of end-of-life vehicles utilizing the highest industry acceptable standards will cement a prosperous and sustainable auto recycling industry for generations to come.
