Toronto, Ontario — After a long and storied involvement with the national association Neil James is stepping down from the Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC) Board of Directors, the organization announced August 17.
In 1993, Neil first attended an Ontario meeting of the Canadian Auto Recyclers. At that time, the group was made up of several like-minded recyclers, all bonded together with the Hotline voice system to buy and sell parts. Neil thought the name failed to express the responsibility of the organization and challenged the auto recyclers to create a new national voice for all auto recyclers.
Neil was involved with many meetings between Canada and the United States—the U.S.-based Automotive Recyclers Association was one of the first groups to recognize and support ARC.
ARC received its charter as a federal non-profit to act as the national voice of the automotive recycling industry in 1995. ARC then became a way to work with seven provinces and regional associations to channel information between provinces and address issues of Canada-wide concern to recyclers.
Neil was on the original ARC Board and was a regular and vocal participant, serving as Board Chair on two different occasions.
Over 25 years ago Neil was also the Chair of the B-CAR Division of the ARA and was frustrated that no municipal or provincial official could explain the regulatory requirements for processing an end-of-life vehicle. B-CAR took this issue to Environment Canada and the BC Ministry of Environment, and the first Environmental Code of Practice (CoP) was developed.
“Neil James has been a visionary for the auto recycling industry, and his time, energy and knowledge commitments to his national association have made for a better industry for everyone” said Steve Fletcher, Managing Director, Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC).
