Vermont
Salvage Yard Program
The Vermont Salvage Yard Program, in the Waste Management and Prevention Division of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), is responsible for the annual permitting of salvage yards, for developing best management practices and other training materials, for compliance inspections at permitted salvage yards, and for investigating complaints of unpermitted salvage yards. Anyone who wants to establish, operate or maintain a salvage yard in Vermont applies to the program for a permit.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name salvage yard records among its standard record sources. They still matter on or next to a salvage yard. DEC's Underground Injection Control page lists vehicle salvage yards among the high risk activities whose floor drains may not discharge to soil or groundwater; see Underground Injection Control (UIC). The program's page also links a fact sheet on managing hazardous waste at salvage yards.
Three details shape what a salvage yard's record holds.
- The town approves the location first. Before applying to the program, an applicant must get a Certificate of Approved Location (COAL) from the town where the salvage yard is located. Ask the town for it.
- The permit is annual. The program permits salvage yards annually and conducts compliance inspections at permitted yards. Ask for the current permit and the inspection records.
- Unpermitted yards are complaint cases. The program investigates complaints of unpermitted salvage yards. The pages read do not say where those complaint records are kept.
DEC says Act 150 of the 2017 legislative session requires new public notice steps for new salvage yard permits and renewals, set out in 10 V.S.A. 7701 to 7718. An applicant must notify adjoining landowners and certify to the Secretary that they have been notified. Once the program receives a complete application, a draft permit is posted on the Environmental Notice Bulletin for 30 days for comment, and the permit decision is made after the 30 days.
Where to look a site up
- The program's page links a page it labels Permitted Salvage Yards, which this handbook did not open.
- DEC says all salvage yard permits, new and renewed, can be found on the Environmental Notice Bulletin, which is updated daily. Complete applications stay on it until the application's appeal period is over.
- The Waste Management and Prevention Division is at 802-828-1138 during office hours. The program's page names its contacts for draft permit comments and for compliance and complaints.
Getting the file
DEC's pages link, in their footer, Request public information and Department of Environmental Conservation Records Liaisons, both on the Agency of Natural Resources' public records page, which this handbook did not read. The pages read for this program give no route of their own for a salvage yard file.
Sources
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: