Selling a catalytic converter in Pennsylvania

Who may sell a detached converter

The restricted materials section is short and absolute. A scrap processor and recycling facility operator may purchase the listed scrap material only if the purchase occurs with a commercial enterprise, and detached catalytic converters are on that list (§ 5(6)), alongside new production scrap sold by an individual rather than a company, full sized new construction materials and contractor equipment, commercial metal property, burned metallic wire above one hundred dollars in aggregate value, beer kegs, and railroad materials (§ 5(1) to (7)).

A commercial enterprise is defined broadly but it is still an entity, not a person. It means a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, single proprietorship, association, State agency, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity (§ 2). A seller, by contrast, is expressly any person other than a commercial enterprise who sells scrap materials to a scrap processor or recycling facility operator (§ 2), and the Act gives that seller no documented converter route of the kind other states provide for a vehicle owner. A catalytic converter means an air pollution abatement device that removes pollutants from motor vehicle exhaust, either by oxidizing them into carbon dioxide and water or reducing them to nitrogen (§ 2).

The buyer registers with the State Police. A scrap processor and recycling facility shall register with the Pennsylvania State Police (§ 6.2(a)), supplying the details the statute prescribes for an individual, general partnership, corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, out-of-state entity, or joint venture (§ 6.2(b)(1) to (5)), and registering separately for each physical address it operates (§ 6.2(c)). Each registration or renewal carries a hundred dollar fee, the State Police issue a written notice of registration within fourteen business days, and the notice is valid two years with biennial renewals (§ 6.2(d)(1)). The registration number goes in all advertisements distributed in the Commonwealth and the notice is clearly visible at the place of business (§ 6.2(f)), and the State Police maintain a statewide registry posted on their publicly accessible website (§ 6.1).

What the buyer must record

Two things trigger the record: a restricted material, or a hundred dollars. A scrap processor and recycling facility operator collects the required information for all transactions by a seller of restricted material under § 5, and from any other seller when the purchase exceeds one hundred dollars (§ 3(a)). Because converters are restricted, every converter transaction is recorded whatever it is worth.

Six items make up the record. A photocopy of the seller's driver license; the seller's and buyer's signature for each transaction; the license plate number of the motor vehicle the seller operates at the time of the transaction; written permission of a parent or legal guardian where the seller is under eighteen; the date and time of the transaction; and a description of the scrap material including its weight and the amount paid to the seller (§ 3(a)(1) to (6)). Where payment is made in cash the operator develops methods of tracking the transaction that obtain the seller's signature on a receipt, and that receipt includes a certification that the seller is the owner or authorized seller of the scrap material (§ 3(b)). The information is maintained for a minimum of two years from the date of the transaction (§ 3(d)).

Commercial accounts carry their own paperwork, which is what a converter sale runs through. Every operator creates and maintains a permanent record with the commercial enterprise, including at a minimum its full name and federal or state tax identification number and its business address and telephone number (§ 4(a)(1), (2)), and documents every purchase and receipt of ferrous or nonferrous metal and commercial metal property with the date, time, and value and a description of the predominant types (§ 4(b)(1), (2)). Where a financial transaction occurs the operator obtains, before completing it, a photocopy of the license of the person bringing the material in, that vehicle's plate number, the commercial account's telephone number, written signed authorization from the owner or officer of the enterprise confirming that person is designated to receive payment, and, for cash, a signed acknowledgment of receipt of the cash payment (§ 4(d)(1) to (5)). Registration information is disclosed during normal business hours to any investigative or law enforcement officer, or to anyone acting at such an officer's direction, investigating suspected criminal activity (§ 6).

How you are paid

Pennsylvania permits cash and sets no ceiling on it. The Act's only cash provisions are procedural: where payment is made in cash the operator has to track the transaction through a signed receipt certifying ownership (§ 3(b)), and on a commercial account a cash payment requires a signed acknowledgment of receipt from the person who receives it (§ 4(d)(5)). Nothing names a check, a mailing address, or a payment delay.

There is no standing hold on a converter either. The Act's holding period is triggered by law enforcement: following verbal or written notification from a law enforcement officer that certain scrap materials have been reported stolen, an operator in possession of that material holds it intact and safe from alteration, damage, or commingling and places an identifying tag or other suitable identification on it (§ 3(c)(1)(i)). An officer making a verbal request has to supply a name, badge number, and department contact telephone number on request so the operator can call back and confirm the officer's identity (§ 3(c)(1)(ii)).

The hold is short and bounded. Within twenty-four hours of the notification or of receiving the material, whichever is later, the operator tells the officer that matching material is on the premises (§ 3(c)(2)), and holds it as the law enforcement agency directs up to a maximum of forty-eight hours following notification (§ 3(c)(3)). An officer may not place a hold without reasonably suspecting the material is lost or stolen, the request has to be as specific as possible about type, style, length, weight, or other description, and no hold may exceed forty-eight hours, after which the material is returned to the owner or released (§ 3(c)(4)). Only a magisterial district judge may extend it, and only after finding probable cause that the material is lost or stolen (§ 3(c)(5)). Material that does not match the description being sought may be disposed of at the operator's discretion (§ 3(c)(6)).

Penalties

The Act's own penalty is a summary offense that escalates once. Except for the registration offense, a scrap processor or recycling facility operator who violates the Act commits a summary offense punishable on conviction by a fine of up to two thousand five hundred dollars, and a second or subsequent violation is classified as a misdemeanor of the third degree (§ 7(a)). A scrap processor or recycling facility that fails to register commits a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of one thousand dollars (§ 6.2(g)).

Vehicles can be impounded on a related theft conviction. On a conviction under 18 Pa.C.S. § 3921 for theft by unlawful taking or disposition, or § 3925 for receiving stolen property, relating to the theft or transportation of stolen scrap material, the court may order the impoundment of any vehicle used in that act: at least thirty but not more than sixty days for a first offense, and at least sixty but not more than one hundred eighty days for a second or subsequent offense involving the same vehicle, with the person convicted responsible for the impoundment fees (§ 7(b)).

Theft of the metal itself is graded in the Crimes Code. Theft of secondary metal is committed by unlawfully taking or attempting to take possession of, carrying away, or exercising unlawful control over secondary metal with intent to deprive the rightful owner (18 Pa.C.S. § 3935.1(a)), and it is a misdemeanor of the third degree below fifty dollars, of the second degree from fifty to under two hundred dollars, of the first degree from two hundred to under one thousand dollars, and a felony of the third degree at one thousand dollars or more (18 Pa.C.S. § 3935.1(b)(1) to (4)). A third or subsequent offense is a felony of the third degree regardless of value (18 Pa.C.S. § 3935.1(c)). Secondary metal there means wire, pipe, or cable commonly used by communications, gas, water, wastewater, and electrical utilities and by railroads and mass transit or commuter rail agencies, copper, aluminum, or other metal, or a combination of metals, that is valuable for recycling or reuse as raw material (18 Pa.C.S. § 3935.1(d)). The Act also preempts and supersedes any local ordinance or rule adopted after its effective date that seeks to regulate the processing of scrap materials (§ 8).

What this means when you sell to us

Pennsylvania treats a detached converter as a restricted material, which means we can buy one only from a commercial enterprise, not from a private individual (§ 5(6)). So bring your business identity: the full legal name and federal or state tax identification number, the business address and telephone number, and written signed authorization from an owner or officer naming you as the person who may receive payment (§ 4(a), (d)(4)). Bring your own government photo ID as well, since we photocopy the license of whoever appears, and you and we both sign the transaction (§ 3(a)(1), (2)). Cash is allowed with no ceiling in Pennsylvania, and when we pay cash you sign a receipt certifying you are the owner or authorized seller, plus an acknowledgment that you received the cash (§ 3(b), § 4(d)(5)).