How dirty old used cars from the US and Europe carry

on polluting … in Africa – podcast

theconversation.com/how-dirty-old-used-cars-from-the-us-and-europe-carry-on-polluting-in-africa-podcast-204153

Daniel Merino, Mend Mariwany

The typical car will go for its last drive sometime between its 10th and 15th year on Earth.
At this point, the vast majority are sent to be recycled or sold for parts. But for a few
autos, a second lease on life awaits, as a significant percentage are exported from richer
nations to developing nations for a few more years on the road.

In countries across Africa and Latin America, old used cars from places like the U.S. and
Europe provide vital access to transportation to people who would otherwise be unable to
afford their own vehicles. While this process extends the lives of these cars, the practice is
not without problems, in particular with regards to pollution and passenger safety.

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly, we speak with two researchers about why
richer countries export used cars, what impacts they have in developing nations and
whether import restrictions are effectively stemming the rise in pollution and accidents
caused by this practice.

Paul Bledsoe is adjunct professorial lecturer at the Center for Environmental Policy at the
American University in the U.S., where he specializes in energy, natural resources and
climate change.

He says that “the process of retiring still-functioning cars off the road is going to speed up
as electric vehicles become cheaper to buy and operate. And so when that happens, you
may see a huge influx of used combustion-engine vehicles hitting the secondary market.”
Bledsoe is concerned that, without the adequate policies in place, developing nations
could see pollution skyrocket over the next decade as a result.

Festival Godwin Boateng is a research fellow at the Center for Sustainable Urban
Development, at Columbia University in the U.S. He studies sustainable development in
Africa through a postcolonial lens and has looked into the issue of old cars.

“Between 2015 and 2018 some 14 million used vehicles were exported from the European
Union, Japan, and the U.S., with 40% of them ending up in African countries,” explains
Boateng. “Just in Ghana, for every hundred vehicles on the road, 80 to 90 are used
vehicles.”

While Festival recognized that used cars fill an important gap in providing transportation
opportunities in Ghana, he says over 50% of used cars are over 15 years old. “So they tend
to be really old and highly polluting. And to make matters waste, they tend to do
modifications to these vehicles, which make them even more polluting.”

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In an effort to combat the harms of old cars, in 2020, Ghana passed a new law aiming to
restrict the import of cars that are more than 10 years old. With exports of old cars
expected to increase as electric vehicles take over Western markets, policies like the law
Ghana passed in 2020 may become more relevant.

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