New rules aNd regulatioNs aloNg with stricter eNforce- ment are impacting recycling businesses which, up until now, have remained loosely regulated. This trend has recyclers dealing with increasingly restrictive guidelines created by state and county legislators, risking huge fnes and the possibility o being shut down. For the last 50 years recycling proessionals have ound their customer bases increasing exponentially . In the U.S. alone, within one year, scrap metal processors handle about 47 million tons o scrap iron and steel, 1.5 million tons o scrap copper, 2.5 million tons o scrap aluminum and 10 million tons o scrap vehicles. It is no doubt that the increase in industrial growth over time coupled with the recently slowed economy has helped to precipitate this boost in the number o people dealing in scrap metal. However, as a result o these tighter regulations and people stuck in desperate economy, recyclers are quickly fnding themselves on the wrong end o law enorcement. Growing Theft With scrap thet growing, legislators and law enorcement ofcers are stepping up their eorts to prosecute thieves and penalize or even close the yards where they sell these stolen materials. In some areas, law enorcement is requesting daily purchase records rom scrap material handlers. Unortunately, most recycling centers fnd that they are non-compliant with legal regulations and are unable to provide ofcers with the requested inormation. Although law enorcement ofcials cannot legally require documentation to be provided to them without the presence o a warrant, complying with the local ofcials is the most sensible option. Sotware exists on the market to aid recyclers in becoming ully compliant and eliminating the possibility o fnes and/or orced dissolution o a non-compliant scrap yard. Advanced record keeping sotware is now becoming more o a requirement rather than an option as the laws change to combat scrap thet. Most States require pictures o scrap materials to be taken at the time o purchase, as well as electronically capturing fngerprints, signatures, driver’s licenses, a photo o the seller, license plates and a description o the seller’s vehicle, regardless o the material type. Generally, errous-materials are lower on the legal totem pole, but transactional inormation is still required to be available in the event that the materials are stolen. Some States have less strict rules regarding these requirements, but as time progresses, more and more states are moving towards a unifed set o rules which will govern recyclers. Scrap Vehicle Purchases Perhaps one o the largest issues that law enorcement investigates is in reerence to stolen vehicles. Each State has dierent guidelines with what inormation is required to be reported to them about scrap vehicle purchases; some States have no reporting requirements whatsoever. Regardless o State reporting requirements, the ederal government requires that motor vehicles that are purchased and intended or scrap must be reported to the National Motor Vehicle Title Inormation System (NMVTIS) (www.nmvtis.gov) as a way to protect consumers rom raud and decrease vehicle thet. Recyclers that do not report vehicles to NMVTIS ace a maximum penalty o $1,000 per unreported automobile (49 U.S.C. § 30505(a)). Penalties depend on a number o assessments but the main actors are the size o the business and the gravity o the violation. Recyclers could lose up to 50 percent o their gross profts or not reporting vehicles to NMVTIS. Most compliant recycling sotware handles NMVTIS reporting automatically eliminating the risk o ederal non-compliance. Laws and Regulations Ohio requires daily scrap purchase inormation to be reported to LeadsOnline. com, a resource used by police and government ofcials to track stolen materials and arrest those responsible or the thet and sales o those materials. T ampa, FL has recently imposed a law re quiring all daily scrap purchases to be reported to the Business Watch International, which can be used to track materials back to the buyers and sellers o the items. These reporting guidelines are only ound in about three sotware packages ound on the market. Because each State and even each county is dierent, it may be important to pay attention to those details as laws are enacted regularly and the government is under no obligation RTL | Recycling | T ranser St ations | Landflls Recycling The Importance of Recycling Software Matthew Walsh 46 WasteAdvantage Magaz ine March 2012 Automated photographs of vehicles, scr ap loads and customers can quickly and easily provide law enforcement with detailed description s and other necessary information they need to catch scrap thieves. Photo courtesy of Aeon Blue Software. As Seen In .vnm.m