Auto Salvage Yard Facilities Certification Program

The automobile manufacturing industry is the largest manufacturing industry in the world. Every year, over 11 million vehicles end up at auto recycling facilities (often referred to as junkyards or auto salvage yards). In the United States, the auto recycling industry employs more than 40,000 people and there are an estimated 7,000 vehicle recycling operations nationwide.

The dismantling of vehicles for reusable or recyclable parts and fluids and the sale of remaining materials as scrap has gone a long way toward lessening the burden on landfills.

However, potential human health and environmental risks associated with auto salvage operations are diverse and variable - arising from a broad array of physical, chemical, and biological hazards.

Such hazards include:

• the potential for fire or explosion at improperly managed sites
• the transmission of diseases where yard areas serve as vector-breeding habitats, for instance, for mosquitoes
• soil, surface water, and groundwater contamination resulting from the improper management of solid and hazardous waste, including mercury switches
• air releases of asbestos fibers, fugitive dust, and/or volatile organic compounds

In order to minimize such hazards and improve environmental regulatory compliance, the Rhode Island Auto Salvage Yard Facilities Certification Program is an effort to share information with operators of auto salvage facilities about compliance with applicable environmental regulations and best management practices, and allow auto salvage yard operators to certify that they are complying with these environmental regulatory requirements.

This site provides resources to explain and comply with regulatory requirements, including information and needed documents for the Auto Salvage Yard Facilities Certification Program, for auto salvage yard operators.

It also provides educational resources on many topics relating to auto salvage yard operation.

Contact us:

Department of Environmental Management

Office of Technical & Customer Assistance

Auto Salvage Yard Facilities Certification Program

235 Promenade Street

Providence, RI 02908-5767

Telephone: (401) 222-6822

Fax: (401) 222-3810

We welcome your questions, and value your comments. Please provide as many details as necessary.

Thanks!

Additional Resources