By Town Crier Staff Report

The Air District has expanded its voluntary program to buy and scrap 1979 and older cars to help reduce air pollution.

Funds are available to purchase almost 1,400 cars by paying individuals $500 for each qualifying 1979 and older car or light-duty truck. To qualify, a vehicle must be in operating condition and have been registered in the nine-county Bay Area for the past two years.

To find out if a car qualifies, call the Air District’s contractor, Pick-N-Pull Dismantlers, at 1-800-SCRAP-08 (1-800-727-2708). Pick-N-Pull will then send the car owner a pre-qualification package in the mail.

The program is funded through the district’s transportation fund for Clean Air, which allocates the $4 surcharge on Bay Area motor vehicle registration fees to projects that reduce emissions from vehicles. Since the fund began in 1992, approximately $80 million have been awarded to 545 projects.