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In 1964 the American public junked more than five million cars. From all indications this figure is only a forewarning of things to come. In the last few years new car production has been at record levels, and it is estimated that the production of eight or ten million cars a year will be common by 1975.

In addition to increases in production, a decline in average car life is also expected. Life expectancy has already dropped from 14 years in 1960 to 10 years in 1964, and further declines are almost certain. The combination of high production and short life will inevitably increase the number of automobiles junked each year.

What happens to cars that are no longer useful as a means of transportation? Many go through a scrapping process in which they are stripped of their parts, burned, baled, and shipped to steel mills. The entire process, from wrecked car to finished steel, can take as little as 90 days. It may take years, however, and many cars are never processed. The number processed each year depends primarily on the steel mills' demand for auto scrap. In the past decade there has been an absolute decline in the amount of scrap used by the steel industry, and this has forced the price of auto scrap to an unprecedented low level.

The combination of more cars being junked each year and fewer being processed into steel has created a disposal problem of major proportions. As wrecking yards fill to capacity, many operators simply dump their cars in vast auto graveyards. If the demand for auto scrap should rise, the graveyards might be cleared, but this appears unlikely in the near future.

The effects of the depressed scrap market are being felt by individuals who want to get rid of their old cars. Since the over-stocked auto wreckers are often unable to pay more than a few dollars for cars, private citizens find it cheaper as well as more convenient to abandon them on city streets or vacant lots. City governments across the country are spending an increasing amount of time and money on efforts to dispose of these abandoned cars.

The disposal of junked cars has, to some extent, always been a public concern. Police and fire officials, health officials, planners, tax assessors, vehicle licensing officials, and other public authorities have had a continuing interest in the locations and procedures of automobile disposal. With the number of cars junked increasing and the number processed declining, it is important to take a fresh look at the problems of car disposal. This report has been prepared to aid public officials, particularly planning officials, who have some responsibility for the control of scrap yards, auto graveyards, and auto abandonments. Its aim is to describe the problems and to evaluate the potentialities and limitations of several possible solutions

Auto Disposal: A Background Report

The Scrap Business

The scrap businesses fall into two main categories. First are the auto wreckers, who buy cars primarily for their salvageable parts. Second are the processors, who buy cars (often from the wreckers) for processing and ultimate sale to the steel industry.

Wreckers. — The auto wrecker buys junked cars primarily for the parts he can salvage, and his primary profit is from the sale of parts. The residual bulk of the auto is a by-product of his operation and may or may not furnish additional profit. The wrecker himself does not prepare autos for the steel mill.

The wrecker handles two types of cars. One is the late-model car that has been in an accident and is beyond repair. The other is the older car that has deteriorated over time. The wrecker usually prefers the late-model wrecks, because the demand for the salvageable parts will be high. A very expensive, late-model car in which most of the parts are still in good condition may be worth as much as $1,000 to a wrecker. This is a rarity, however, and most wrecked cars are worth not more than $150. Very old cars are usually worthless to the wrecker: even if the car is running, its parts will be in poor condition, and the demand will be low for the few parts that can be salvaged. As a consequence, the wrecker will pay very little for old cars. In fact, many wreckers refuse to accept some cars even as gifts because the cars would take up space needed for more profitable acquisitions. Make, model, year, and condition are all considered by the wrecker before he decides whether he wants a car and how much he is willing to pay.

The wrecker obtains his inventory of cars from a variety of sources. Private individuals, used car dealers, body shops, and repair garages are the major ones. In addition, many wreckers buy at auctions. Insurance companies hold auctions to get rid of vehicles wrecked by their policy holders, and police departments auction off cars abandoned on city streets.

If the wrecker has a small yard where space is at a premium, he may strip the car of the usable parts and then dispose of the remaining hulk. However, most wreckers prefer to store the cars and let the customers fill their own orders by roaming the yard until they find the needed part. This requires a larger yard, but savings are realized through lower labor costs.

A wrecker's customers are as varied as his suppliers. They include individuals who are trying to keep the family car running and garage mechanics who cannot afford to maintain a full inventory of parts. Many wreckers sell to the rebuilt auto-parts industry, which comprises some 2,000 small firms that specialize in reconditioning carburetors, generators, distributors, clutches, and other parts. To help locate hard-to-find parts, some wreckers are connected by a telephone-teletype communications system.

After the wrecker has stripped a car of its usable parts, he must dispose of it. If the market for scrap is favorable, he can sell the car to a processor. If he does this, he may have to burn the car to remove such things as glass, rubber, upholstery, and nonferrous metal; many processors will not buy a car unless it has been prepared in this manner. If he cannot sell to a processor, the wrecker must dispose of the remains some other way. If there is room in his yard, he may store cars on a corner of his lot and wait for a more favorable market. If he has no room, he may buy or lease property at another location to use as an auto graveyard.

The National Auto and Truck Wreckers Association estimates there are 8,000 wrecking yards in the country that handle between five and six million cars each year. The average size of an auto wrecking yard is eight acres. In heavily populated areas, the average is about two acres, and in areas where land is inexpensive the yards may be as large as 30 acres. On the average, a car remains in the wrecker's yard for a year, but it may be kept for only a day or for as long as four years.l

Processors. — The auto processor prepares automobiles for consumption by domestic steel mills or for export to foreign mills. His interest is in the metal components of the car, not in the parts. Auto processing is a specialized segment of a much larger ferrous scrap industry, and a typical scrap processor uses autos for only part of his scrap output. The remainder will be scrap from industrial waste, demolition scrap from bridges and buildings, or worn-out materials such as old machinery. Auto scrap usually accounts for less than 15 per cent of the scrap purchased by domestic steel mills.

Unlike the wrecker, who values the car for its parts, the processor pays for bulk. He may pay $10 to $20 for a car or, if he is purchasing in volume, he may pay $5 to $10 a ton. If the car enters the processing yard already stripped and burned by the wrecker, it is inspected to make sure it is free of impurities. If it has not been stripped, it goes through a stripping line where the radiator, ornaments, head lights, trim, heater, electrical equipment, and wiring are removed. This material is an important by-product of the processing operation. An average car contains 66 pounds of aluminum, 37 pounds of copper, 38 pounds of zinc, 20 pounds of lead, and 180 pounds of rubber, all of which can be profitably reclaimed. From the stripping line, the car is taken to an incinerator where it is burned to remove paint, grease, and other impurities which would lower the quality of the steel. Finally, the car is either squeezed in a hydraulic press until it is the size of a filing cabinet, or it is shredded into fist-sized chunks. The final product is shipped to a steel mill, where it becomes part of the mill's new production.

The ferrous scrap processing industry is represented nationally by the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel.2 According to the Institute, about 4,000 firms in the country have scrap processing equipment of some type. Not all these firms, however, have the type of equipment needed for auto processing. The Institute represents about 1,200 scrap processors, who handle about 90 per cent of the ferrous scrap in the country. The Institute recently sent a questionnaire to its members in an effort to understand better the character of the industry. The information which follows is based on a sample of the returns from that questionnaire.3

Fifteen per cent of the processors do not use cars for any of their scrap output. Ten per cent use cars for 60 per cent or more of their output.

Of the processors who do handle auto scrap, five per cent also sell used parts. This indicates a slight overlap between the processing and wrecking functions.

Fifty-five per cent of the scrap yards are smaller than five acres, and eight per cent are larger than 20 acres.

Fifty-five per cent of the businesses have been in operation at the same location for more than 20 years; eight per cent have been operating for less than five years.

Thirty per cent employ fewer than 10 persons; 41 per cent employ between 10 and 30 persons; and 39 per cent employ more than 30 persons.

Sixty-five per cent of the processors who handle cars do not accept them unless they have been burned and stripped.

Almost 80 per cent of the yards are located near a railroad track.

Complaints concerning the operation of the yards include noise, smoke, dust, appearance, vibration, and television interference resulting from the use of certain equipment. The most frequent complaint is about smoke.

The complaints are registered by civic groups, newspapers, neighborhood commercial and industrial enterprises; and city officials and nearby residents are the most frequent complainers.

Auto wrecking and processing are two phases of the auto scrapping process. Often, however, the two phases overlap, and the distinction between them becomes blurred. In general, the processor is interested in metals, prefers an industrial location near a railroad, and requires expensive specialized equipment. The wrecker is interested in parts, prefers a highway location convenient to the motoring public, and requires less equipment than the processor. Many mixed or hybrid businesses cannot be rigidly classified as either wreckers or processors. All the same, the distinction is important in analyzing and solving the problems posed by junked cars.

The Scrap Market

The final consumer of auto scrap is the steel mill, which uses scrap steel as one of the two basic materials (pig iron is the other) from which steel is produced. In recent years, the steel industry's scrap purchases have declined significantly. Between 1950 and 1957, total scrap purchased by the steel industry averaged 35.1 million tons a year. Between 1958 and 1963, the average was only 26.6 million tons.4 As purchases have decreased, the industry has eliminated the lowest quality material first; and of all the types of scrap, the mills find autos and other worn-out materials the least desirable

The decline in the amount of scrap purchased can be traced to two primary causes. First, there has been an absolute decline in the amount of steel produced. Steel production in the late fifties and early sixties dropped slightly from the higher production levels of the early fifties. Second, and more important, technological changes in the steel industry have reduced the relative amounts of scrap needed for making steel. The conventional open hearth furnace uses between 35 and 60 per cent scrap in each charge, but the new oxygen converter process can use no more than 30 per cent. The result is more steel with less scrap. In 1963 approximately eight per cent of all steel made in this country was made by oxygen converter. By 1966 it will be 25 per cent, and it is expected to be 50 per cent by 1970.5 The decline in scrap demand has created serious problems for the ferrous scrap industry in general and the auto scrap industry in particular.

Processors. — The unfavorable market has lowered the price of all forms of scrap. As recently as 1958, the national average price of auto scrap was $38 a ton, but by 1963 the price had dropped to $20. It costs a processor $12 to $14 a ton to prepare a car for the mills, and transportation costs are another $4 to $8 a ton. Thus, the cost of processing ($16 to $22) nearly equals the price paid by the steel industry for the finished product ($20). In this situation, many of the marginal processors are either squeezed out or turn to more profitable categories of scrap.

The decline in demand for auto scrap has not caused much stockpiling in the yards of the processors. Most processors do not maintain large inventories. They buy cars only when they are reasonably sure they have a market for the finished product. When the demand for auto scrap is low, the processor shifts his purchases to some other form of scrap and adjusts his auto inventory accordingly. When the market is more favorable he begins buying cars again. His sensitivity to market conditions enables the processor to keep his inventory at an optimum level.

Wreckers. — The wrecker, unlike the processor, does not have this freedom to adjust his inventory. To obtain new parts, the wrecker must buy cars even when he has no chance of selling the old hulks. If he is unable to sell to the processor, the wrecker must use part of his yard for dead storage or must obtain new land. This is the beginning of the "graveyard" problem.

Graveyards. — The term "auto graveyard" is often used but rarely defined. It usually refers to an accumulation of inoperable cars that have not gone through the complete scrapping process and that seem unlikely to do so. The cars may have been through a wrecking yard to be stripped of parts, but many have missed even this step and have been placed directly in the graveyard. In a sense, all graveyards are speculative ventures. If the demand for scrap should substantially increase, the owner of the graveyard would be able to realize a profit on his cars. Although some graveyard operators may think in these terms, others probably see the graveyard only as a dump.

Some graveyards are consciously planned. For example, a New York wrecker recently bought a 132-acre farm to take the overflow from his wrecking yard. Other graveyards just "happen." A car may be abandoned on a vacant piece of land, and in a short time the lot is full of rusting hulks that have been hauled there by wreckers, gasoline station operators, repair men, or private individuals. The owner of the property may be unaware of what has happened. If he is aware, he may not care, or he may not be able to catch the culprits. What begins as an isolated abandonment often ends up as a large graveyard.

Abandonments. — Ultimately the decline in scrap prices affects the repair men, used car dealers, gasoline station operators, and individuals who are trying to junk a car. They are usually unable to sell to a processor, and the $10 or $15 they may receive from a wrecker often goes toward a $20 towing charge. The result has been a major increase in auto abandonment. The problem of abandonments has reached such proportions that Philadelphia must employ 11 trucks to remove the cast-offs. In Chicago 22,000 cars were found abandoned in 1963. During a five-year period, New York City's street removal program increased 10-fold; 2,500 cars were removed from the streets in 1960, and 25,000 in 1964. These statistics testify to the failure of the scrap businesses to cope with the growing number of junked cars.

Increasing the Demand for Auto Scrap

To oversimplify: the problem is too many junked cars and too little demand for auto scrap. If the scrap market could be "corrected" to absorb more cars, the graveyards could be cleared, and the number of abandonments would decline. As a practical matter, the need is to make auto scrap more competitive with other forms of scrap. This could be accomplished by increasing the quality of the scrap or decreasing the costs of processing.

New Equipment. — New processing equipment has been developed in an effort to make auto scrap more attractive to the steel mills. If successful, the new machinery may go a long way toward disposing of the backlog of junked autos. The Proler Steel Corporation of Houston, Texas, has developed a giant machine that transforms cars into pellets of almost pure steel. The pellets are of uniform quality and are in high demand by the steel industry. Each of the four Proler machines in operation can prepare 800 to 1,000 cars a day. Because of these high volumes, Proler hauls cars distances of 250 to 300 miles and occasionally as far as 600 miles. This is an important consideration for wreckers in outlying areas who have never had an outlet for their auto bodies. The Proler machinery, and similar machinery developed by Luria Brothers & Company of New York, costs between $1 and $2 million. Despite the costs, several new installations are in the planning stages.6

Public Subsidy. — Although new processing techniques could improve the current situation, they are unlikely to accomplish the objective of complete disposal of all cars. In recognition of this fact, some observers have recommended that car disposal be subsidized. Recently, Senator Paul Douglas introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate to establish a fund, amounting to about $400 million a year, that would be used to subsidize various phases of the scrapping process.7 Money for the fund would be provided by a one per cent tax on the manufacturer’s list price of new cars. Senator Douglas suggested that the money might be used for:

Incentive payments (in effect, bounties) to defray the costs of moving autos to the wrecker or processor.

Grants to help pay the costs of organizing and operating auto collection systems.

Loans and grants to processors and wreckers for the purchase of new equipment.

Underwriting the cost of title transfers.

Underwriting the planning and land acquisition costs for the relocation of scrap businesses.

New York state legislators are also considering a proposal for subsidizing the car disposal process. A consultant, hired by the state legislature to study the problem, has recommended that publicly owned scrap centers be established throughout the state. Each center would contain an incinerator, which could be used for a fee by any individual or firm, and include areas that could be rented by any firm for the storage of stripped autos which had no immediate market value. In addition, grants-in-aid would be provided for cities and counties that organized a scrap removal and towing service.8

Senator Douglas's proposal and the New York proposal are designed to reduce, through various indirect and direct subsidies, the costs of processing a car. Lower processing costs would enable the processor to offer the steel to the mills at a lower cost and thus make it more competitive with other forms of scrap. Whether these proposals are ever enacted into law or not, their very existence suggests the seriousness with which the junked car problem is being treated.

Other Approaches. — Car bodies can occasionally be useful even if they are never used for the production of steel. Near Topeka, Kansas, over 1,000 car bodies have been used along the Kansas River to prevent erosion. This is estimated to cost one-fourth the price of conventional erosion-control practices. Car bodies have also been used to create artificial reefs. (Apparently the bodies provide ideal breeding places for certain types of fish.) Cars have been used for land fill, but they are not very suitable for this purpose unless they have been crushed. Unfortunately, none of these approaches — to say nothing of the still more imaginative proposals so popular just now, such as chaining old car bodies in drive-in theaters for the walk-in trade — seems likely to deplete the supply of junked cars.

Public Regulations

Even if new equipment or subsidies succeed in diminishing the number of junked cars, state and local regulations will still be needed to control a wide range of problems associated with auto disposal. A five-part discussion of regulations will follow. The first four parts discuss the objectives and characteristics of public regulations with respect to scrap businesses, auto graveyards, auto abandonments, and temporary storage of autos. In the final part state roadside controls will be discussed.

Scrap Business

Public regulations of wreckers and processors must strike a balance between the locational and operational needs of these businesses and the legitimate demands of the public at large. On one hand, regulations should ensure that wreckers and processors are located in accordance with the community's plan and operated so that they are compatible with their surroundings. On the other hand, public policy should be directed toward facilitating the movement of cars from wrecker to processor to steel mill. Whether right or wrong much of the public seems to associate all "junk yards" with smoke, noise, and ugliness. While efforts must be made to deal with these and other serious problems, it makes no sense to impose oppressive regulations that needlessly reduce the ability of the scrap businesses to rid the community of unwanted cars. To strike the proper balance between these conflicting policies is not easy.

Exclusion. — A number of local governments have completely excluded wrecking and processing yards from their jurisdictions. Interest in this approach is bound to be stimulated by Oregon City v. Hartke,9 the recent case in which the Supreme Court of Oregon upheld such an exclusion. The court decided that the city was entitled to make a distinction between wrecking yards and other uses that were claimed to have similar characteristics.

The city commission may have felt that the operation of an automobile wrecking yard would produce more noise, smoke or fumes and would be more unsightly than the permitted uses.

The court further concluded that the city could exclude a business solely on the ground that it was "offensive to aesthetic sensibilities."

The prevention of unsightliness by wholly precluding a particular use within the city may inhibit the economic growth of the city or frustrate the desire of someone who wishes to make the proscribed use, but the inhabitants of the city have the right to forego the economic gain and the person whose business plans are frustrated is not entitled to have his interest weighed more heavily than the predominent interest of others in the community.

Of course, it does not follow from this landmark decision that every city and county in the land has legal authority to bar scrap yards. Although this decision (and others elsewhere) suggest judicial acceptance of the principle that every municipality need not permit every use somewhere within its borders, the validity of an exclusion will still depend on the facts of each case.

If a community believes it has legal power to exclude wrecking and processing yards, the question remains whether the power should be exercised. Exclusion of these uses from a particular jurisdiction can be defended if suitable provision is made for those uses nearby. In metropolitan areas, for example, every suburb need not accommodate a wrecking yard, although residents of each suburb should have reasonable access to a yard. Exclusion of wrecking and processing yards from a large area, however, can be expected to cause an increase in abandonments. Exclusion can thus eliminate some problems but create others.

Decisions concerning the location of scrap yards should be based on regional as well as local considerations. If a community proposes to ban the scrap businesses, it should determine — not just hope — that neighboring jurisdictions accommodate them.

Location. — If a community does not prohibit the scrap businesses, it should determine appropriate locations for them. The zoning ordinance is the most useful means of controlling location, although other regulations are sometimes used. Junk yard licensing ordinances, for example, are often used as an indirect method of location control, since location can be considered in deciding whether or not to grant a license.

The zoning ordinance should provide the scrap businesses with "right" locations that meet their needs as well as prohibit them in "wrong" locations where they could damage neighbors or the community at large.

Spokesmen for the wreckers and processors are not in complete agreement as to the kind of location which best serves their needs. Processors point out that their need for heavy equipment and access to rail facilities makes their yards logical candidates for a manufacturing district. Wreckers, on the other hand, emphasize the retail aspect of the wrecking operation and imply that wrecking yards should be in some kind of highway commercial district. In practice, local governments treat wrecking and processing as similar uses and almost invariably allow them only in manufacturing districts. It seems unlikely that a more permissive treatment could often be justified. The real problem thus is the proper treatment of these uses within industrial zones.

Definitions. — An examination of numerous zoning ordinances reveals that wrecking and processing yards are seldom defined separately. Both are usually included within an all-inclusive definition of "junk yard," such as the following one from the Colorado Springs, Colorado, ordinance:

Junk Yard — The use of more than two hundred square feet of the area of any lot for the storage, keeping, or abandonment of junk, including scrap metals or other scrap materials or for the dismantling, demolition, or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof.

Occasionally, however, definitions (or other ordinance provisions) do in effect distinguish wrecking from processing. For example, in the MZ "light" industrial zone, the Los Angeles zoning ordinance permits:

Automobile wrecking, . . . provided . . . that no crushing, smashing, baling, or reduction of metal is performed on the premises. [no processing]

In the M3 "heavy" industrial zone, automobile wrecking is permitted without the qualifying proviso. Thus, processing is restricted to the heaviest industrial district, while wrecking is permitted in two districts.

In West Chicago, Illinois, processing is distinguished from "junk yards." No "junk yards" are permitted within the city, but

commercial scrap metal establishments engaged only in the processing of scrap metal to be sold for the manufacture of steel [i.e., processors] . . .

are permitted in an M1 "limited" manufacturing district. Here the distinction is used to permit processors but exclude "junk yards" (which presumably includes wreckers).

Several zoning ordinances contain separate definitions for "automobile wrecking yards" and "junk yards." Apart from satisfying the strong desires of auto wreckers (and processors, for that matter) not to have their businesses labeled "junk yards," the reason for making this distinction is not apparent. In the ordinances studied, both uses were invariably made special permit uses in the same manufacturing district.

From the evidence available, it appears that separate definitions of wrecking and processing are appropriate only in the larger cities, if at all. In the larger cities, there are enough districts to accommodate some subtle distinctions between uses. Even there, though, it is not clear that the distinctions between wrecking and processing are useful for most zoning purposes. (The distinction may be relevant to establishing minimum requirements for off-street customer parking; wreckers usually have more customers.) Although the drafters and administrators of zoning ordinances should be aware of the different characteristics of the two uses, it appears that zoning objectives can ordinarily be attained more directly through the use of performance standards and other requirements than by reliance on a definitional distinction between these two uses.

Special Permits. — Zoning ordinances occasionally permit "junk yards" by right in the most permissive industrial district. More often, these uses are permitted in that district only with a special use permit. Although reliance on a discretionary permit is not the only way to subject the scrap businesses to special requirements on operation, site development, and location, it is clearly a useful one. And, by relying on special permits, communities may be able to permit these uses in intermediate industrial zones from which they would otherwise be excluded. Although the scrap businesses are ordinarily subject to local licensing requirements, and additional discretionary power under the zoning ordinance might therefore seem unnecessary, the number and complexity of the zoning considerations relating to these uses make the widespread reliance on special permits understandable. Indeed, ordinances should probably permit these uses without a special permit only in virtually unrestricted manufacturing zones.

As in all cases where a special use permit is required, the standards for granting or denying a permit should be spelled out in as much detail as possible. Although standards such as "not injurious to the surrounding neighborhood and not contrary to the spirit and purpose of the ordinance . . . " have been upheld by some courts10 as a basis for denying a special permit, this kind of generalized standard should be supplemented with more specific requirements.

Performance Standards, Spacing, Parking. — Performance standards show perhaps the most promise for controlling the location of the scrap businesses within manufacturing zones. In New York City, for example, wrecking establishments, junk yards, and scrap storage areas have been grouped with establishments engaged in the manufacture of fertilizers, paint, rubber, cement, and railroad equipment. In addition, the group includes: sewage disposal plants, lumber yards, stock yards, and foundries. These uses are permitted in the light, medium, and heavy manufacturing districts if they are able to comply with performance standards. Thus, a wrecker who objects to exclusion from a zone need only change the performance characteristics of his business to qualify for a new location and new neighbors.

Many cities require the scrap businesses to be a minimum specified distance from other uses and districts. Thus, in Rochester, New York, "junk yards" and "used automobile junk areas" require a special permit to be in M-2 heavy industrial zone. To obtain such a permit they must be at least 500 feet from every residential district and 200 feet from every other district not zoned M-2. In Los Angeles County, special use permits are required as a matter of course in the "heavy" manufacturing zone, but in the "unlimited" manufacturing zone they are required only if the proposed location is within 300 feet of a public school or park or a residential zone. If other ordinance provisions — such as performance standards and fencing requirements — ensure that the scrap businesses are no more objectionable than other permitted industries, there may be no need for these spacing requirements. In the absence of performance standards, spacing may provide a useful, if crude, form of transition zoning.

Because of the amount and character of traffic generated by the scrap businesses, they should be located so as to keep traffic through residential and commercial areas at a minimum. An odd, but not uncommon, complaint concerning scrap yards is that trucks, piled high with scrap, lose some of their load in the streets.