Legal?

Legal here...some cities require permits.

Unfortunately, we can't answer that question for you. Laws and ordinances differ from place to place. Check your city and county web sites.

It seems universal that anything in a "Recycling bin/container" belongs to the city/company that is picking it up. So I would never take anything from a recycling container of any kind.

I feel you have gotten very accurate information on from the other responses. Mike.

You’re probably in better shape if your municipality does their own trash/recycling collection. They probably look at it as “less work for me to do.”

Now, a private company that’s contracted to do the collection might be a different story since there’s a good chance they separate the scrap they pick up and then sell it themselves.

Now, I shop CurbCo in both kinds of places and I’ve had the cops pull up behind me while I was loading some scrap into the truck. I’ve never had an issue with them; they usually just want to know why I’m pulled off to the side of the road with my hazards flashing. I just tell them I’m looking for some scrap metal as a side job and then they go about their business. So, for me, there’s either no ordnance against it or the cops just don’t care.

Originally Posted by dshrader

Thanks everyone. I haven't had any instance of trouble, couple people watched me take the stuff but no one ever says anything. Just don't want trouble with the po po...lol

If the cops ever start hassling you, my advice is to just be polite and calmly explain what you’re doing. Don’t give them a reason to come down on you.

Even if there are ordinances that say its not legal, its up to the police if they want to enforce. Once city I used to scrap they never said anything to me for 2 years and then one night I got pulled over and the cop asked me if I knew it was illegal. I said no, I never thought of looking that up, would never have thought it, would never have thought there would be an actual rule about it. He was nice, said I could keep what I had but not to pick up any more. He said they didn't want folks making a mess. Well, that right there told me another scrapper must have been leaving a mess behind and they got complaints. This is where what we do affects ALL of us.