UNSPSC 11191606: Automotive wrecking for waste or scrap

UNSPSC 11191606 Automotive wrecking for waste or scrap, a Commodity code, covers the collection, transport, processing, and recycling of scrap metals, waste appliances, and electronic waste from state and local facilities—work driven primarily by environmental compliance, commodity market pricing, and revenue-sharing arrangements rather than traditional service procurement. State and local buyers under this code include county waste management departments, transportation cabinets, municipal environmental services divisions, and sheriffs' departments. The scope extends beyond automotive salvage per se to encompass mixed ferrous and nonferrous metals, stainless steel, aluminum, copper cabling, e-waste with high-value components (circuit boards, CPUs, hard drives), and waste appliances (refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, washers, dryers, air conditioners) containing refrigerants or hazardous materials. Contractors furnish containers or roll-off boxes, manage collection schedules with 24-hour pickup commitments, handle sorting and hazardous-material removal (including Freon extraction), operate certified scales for weighing, and remit monthly settlement reports tied to published commodity indices—primarily the American Metal Market (AMM) Chicago or Monthly Averages for Scrap Iron & Steel. Most contracts are structured as revenue-sharing agreements where the contractor pays the county or municipality a percentage of commodity sales or submits a bid percentage of current AMM pricing, rather than receiving a service fee from the government; some solicitations explicitly require that any bid charging a fee to the jurisdiction be rejected as non-responsive. Insurance requirements are substantial across all opportunities, typically including general liability of $1 million to $2 million per occurrence, automobile liability of $1 million, and workers' compensation at statutory minimums; larger procurements add excess liability, pollution liability, and cyber liability coverage.

The geographic distribution spans California (Sacramento County, Ventura County), Georgia (DeKalb County, Clayton County), Kentucky, Oregon (Marion County), Michigan (Detroit), and Arizona (Tucson), with no dominant concentration in any single state. Sacramento County Department of Waste Management and Recycling issued an RFB in June 2026 for collection and recycling of mixed metals and waste appliances from two facilities, with pricing based on AMM percentages and projected volumes of 10,800 to 11,775 tons annually; DeKalb County, Georgia posted an ITB in June 2026 for three-year supply of hot-rolled steel plates for roadway projects with a 20 percent Local Small Business Enterprise subcontracting requirement; Ventura County posted separate RFBs in May 2026 for metal recycling and e-waste recycling services, both awarding to the bidder offering the highest revenue return and forbidding any bid that includes fees charged to the County; Clayton County, Georgia and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) both solicited e-waste and scrap metal recycling through ITBs and RFBs posted in May and March 2026 with awards to responsive bidders meeting reasonable pricing thresholds; the City of Detroit issued an RFQ in January 2026 for three-year scrap metal removal from Public Lighting Department infrastructure with equalization credits for Detroit-certified businesses; and the City of Tucson released an RFP in July 2024 for scrap metal and appliance collection across municipal departments. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department posted a Request for Information in April 2026 regarding evidence collection and storage services for metal theft investigations, marked as preliminary market research only and not a binding solicitation.