Air Without Filters: Why Catalytic Converters Don’t Save Almaty About Cars and More…

Here’s how New York would have looked like if the Clean Air Act and catalytic converters hadn’t revolutionized air quality.
Almaty’s annual average PM2.5 is 200–300% higher than New York’s. Introduced in the mid‑1970s, converters helped to reduce vehicle emissions significantly.

What are catalytic converters?
Devices in exhaust systems that turn toxic gases into less harmful substances. Since the 1990s, new cars worldwide must have them, and working converters neutralize over 90% of pollutants.

Why don’t they work in Almaty?
– According to car repairers, 40–70% of cars lack converters or have nonfunctional ones.
– Main causes:

1. Wear and replacement costs (10–12-year lifespan; replacement costs in Almaty range from 85,000–1,000,000 KZT). Factors like the city’s mountainous terrain and poor fuel quality accelerate amortization.
2. Precious-metal resale: converters contain 4–11 g of platinum, palladium, rhodium. Many are removed and sold (OLX shows 100+ ads in Almaty). Instead, “emulators” are installed.
3. Aging vehicle fleet: 58% of Almaty cars are over 10 years old (many are over 20).
4. Weak inspection systems: photo-based diagnostic cards are still accepted; inspections don’t always detect missing or worn converters.
5. Insufficient emissions control: there are only ~19 eco-posts, which leads to few and inefficient city-wide checks.

Relevant factors:
– Replacement cost and the percentage of aged cars.
– Local D.V. Sokolskyii Institute has made domestic metallic converters (which cost ~140,000 KZT) comparable in effectiveness to imported ones (160,000–180,000 KZT). However, there are still cheaper Chinese (60,000–65,000 KZT) alternatives, which prevail the market.
– Selling converters is lucrative—many repair shops remove and sell them; some converter thefts even occur from customer vehicles.
– Legally, driving without a converter should result in a 36,920 KZT fine and a mandatory restoration of the converter.

International Case Studies (USA, Mexico):
– In the mid‑1970s, converters were introduced, leading to smog and particulate matter reductions.
– Mexico City’s PIREC 2014 program replaced 30,221 converters in vehicles over 15 years old and 14,703 in newer cars.
– Alongside converters, strict monitoring, fuel standards, public transit, and forecasting systems contributed to air quality improvements.