Author: EPA Default

How can I assist in safely
removing non-operative or
abandoned vehicles?

Insert tribal-specific information on how residents can coordinate with tribal department to conducting vehicle removals
(Tip for filling out this section: Some tribes hold special vehicle collection and removal days that are coordinated with other entities, either contractors, or other tribal, state, and/or county governments.
You (environmental or other tribal department ) can ask residents to “contact the tribal environmental office to learn more about how to coordinate a vehicle removal with the tribe.”
For more information on how a tribal government could develop a vehicle removal program, please see the U.S. EPA guide “Developing an Abandoned Vehicle Cleanup Program for Tribal Governments” available at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/tribal/resources.html

Insert tribal seal
or motto HERE

A Guide for Tribal
Community Members:
Removal of Non-operative or Abandoned Vehicles

Tribal Env. Department Phone: 555-555-5555 Fax: 555-555-5555 E-mail: someone@example.com

Tribal Env. Department Primary Business Address
Your Address Line 2
Your Address Line 3
Your Address Line 4

Information in this brochure includes:
What is a Non-Operative or Abandoned Vehicle?
What are the Environmental and Health Concerns Regarding Non-Operative or Abandoned Vehicles?
How Can I Decrease Risks?
What can I do to Assist in the Removal of Non-Operable or Abandoned Vehicles?
Why is the Removal of Non-Operative or Abandoned Vehicles Important to the Tribe?
How Can I Dispose of my Household Hazardous Waste Safely?

What is a Non-Operable or
Abandoned Vehicle?

Environmental and Health Concerns Regarding Non-Operable and
Abandoned Vehicles

What can I do to decrease the risks associated with Non-Operable and Abandoned Vehicles?

A non-operable vehicle can be:
A vehicle that is currently registered as non-operable with a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and not being driven (operated).
A vehicle that is registered or unregistered with a DMV and does not operate due to mechanical malfunction, missing parts or other reasons.
An abandoned vehicle is no longer being used and maintained, nor is it in the possession of its last
registered owner. Abandoned vehicles can be:
Currently registered with a DMV as operable or non-operable;
Have a known or unknown owner;
Defined by Tribal Codes. (For example, some ordinances considered vehicles left along a road for over 90 days to be “abandoned”).

Why is the removal of non-operable and abandoned vehicles important to the tribe?

Insert a discussion of the importance of removing these vehicles from your tribal lands in particular.
For example: specify any water bodies that may be affected or sources of drinking water that may be contaminated by materials and fluids used in vehicles such as those listed in the center segment of this brochure.

Non-operable and abandoned vehicles pose an
environmental and human health threat to the
tribe including:

Vehicles are often used to store garbage and other refuse, which may attract pests and become breeding grounds for disease.

Vehicles are a visual blight and can be detrimental to community pride, land beautification efforts and local business operations.

Vehicles contain fuel, oil, transmission fluid, power steering and brake fluids that can leak, polluting soil, ground water and surface water, and are a safety hazard.

Vehicles contain other materials that may be harmful to your health and the environment and should be removed and disposed of as municipal or hazardous waste before the cars are crushed. For example:
Batteries containing lead and acids;
Wheel weights containing lead;
Switches and lamps containing mercury;
Filters containing oils;
Air conditioning units containing refrigerants;
Brake shoes and clutches containing asbestos, and;
Un-deployed airbags containing sodium azide.

The following is information and documents needed (if available) for the Tribe to remove vehicles.

If you are the vehicle owner:
Provide a title document (pink slip)?
Reason for removal
Your signature granting the tribe permission to collect, dismantle, and recycle the vehicle (s)
If you are not the vehicle owner:
Do you know who owns the vehicle?
Do you have permission to remove the vehicle, or is it abandoned?
What is the vehicle:
Make (Ford, Toyota, etc.)
Model (Mustang, Corolla etc.)
Year
Color
License Number
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) (typically on dash, door, or frame)
Reason for removal

Insert other specific information the tribe would like residents to provide to assist in the removal of vehicles. For example you could add, “If you are interested in removing a vehicle, be prepared to answer the following question the environmental department will ask:
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3 etc….