Registration Requirements
Businesses that purchase secondary metals in Florida must register with the state.
Florida requires recyclers to:
- Register as a secondary metals recycler
- Register for sales and use tax
- Complete the required applications
- Maintain registration for each business location
The registration fee is currently $6 per location. New applicants must also complete a criminal history review.
Registration is with the Department of Revenue under § 538.25, and it renews: $6 per location at registration and a $6 annual renewal per location on October 1, with fingerprint processing costs submitted alongside the application. The per-location structure matters for multi-site operators — a new yard is a new registration, not an amendment to an existing one.
Recordkeeping Requirements
Florida requires recyclers to maintain transaction records and comply with record retention requirements. Local law enforcement agencies may inspect these records as part of compliance efforts.
What each purchase record must contain
Section 538.19(2) sets out the fields, and Florida asks for more identifying detail than most states:
- The name and address of the secondary metals recycler
- The date and time of the transaction
- The weight, quantity, or description of the metals purchased
- The amount of consideration given
- A signed statement of ownership from the seller
- The seller's identification number
- A description of the seller — name, address, telephone, physical characteristics, right thumbprint, and vehicle details
- A photograph or video of the metals purchased
- A photograph showing the seller's facial features
Records must be maintained for not less than three years from the date of the purchase transaction (§ 538.19(4)) — the longest retention floor of the six states in this series.
The 10 a.m. transmission rule
Florida also imposes a reporting deadline that operators frequently underestimate: electronic records are to be transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement official no later than 10 a.m. of the business day following the purchase transaction (§ 538.19(1)).
That is a daily, time-boxed obligation. It means yesterday's tickets have to be complete, correctly coded, and exportable before mid-morning — which is a very different requirement from being able to find a ticket when someone asks.
Payment Restrictions
Under § 538.235, cash transactions exceeding $1,000 for regulated metals are prohibited; amounts above that are paid by check. For restricted regulated metals property, payment is made by check mailed to the seller's street address or by electronic transfer to the seller's bank account within three days.
Mailing the payment is, in effect, a cooling-off period — it puts a verifiable address between a stolen load and same-day cash. It also means your payables process is part of your compliance posture, not a back-office afterthought.
Catalytic Converters and the 10-Day Hold
Detached catalytic converters are treated as restricted regulated metals property, requiring proof of ownership before purchase. Florida then adds a hold: a recycler may not process or remove from the place of business a detached catalytic converter it has purchased for a period of 10 business days after the date of purchase (§ 538.26(6)), with exceptions for purchases from other recyclers, salvage dealers, and certain exempt entities.
Ten business days is two calendar weeks of converters sitting on your floor, individually traceable to a ticket. Yards that treat converters as ordinary nonferrous inventory tend to discover the problem when they cannot prove which unit came from which purchase.
Facility Location Requirements
Florida's Junkyard Control Law places restrictions on where junkyards and scrap metal processing facilities may operate.
Generally, facilities may not operate within 1,000 feet of interstate highways or federal-aid primary highways unless specific conditions are met.
Vehicle and Salvage Regulations
Florida also maintains specific regulations for dismantled vehicles and salvage operations.
Recyclers that process salvaged vehicles should understand title, ownership, and destruction requirements before accepting materials.
What Investigators Actually Ask For
When a detective walks into a yard with a theft report, the question is almost never "do you keep records?" It is far more specific than that, and it is always a search:
- Every purchase of one material class between two dates
- Every transaction tied to one seller, one ID, or one vehicle
- The ID scan and the photograph attached to a specific ticket
- What was paid, and by what method
- Whether the material is still on the ground or already shipped
Each of those is a query. If the answer lives in a drawer of carbon copies, it takes a day to assemble and still cannot be proven complete. If it lives in a system, it takes a minute and prints.
Penalties Are Criminal, Not Just Civil
Knowing violations of Florida's recordkeeping, inspection, hold, or payment provisions are felonies of the third degree, rising to second-degree felonies for a third or subsequent violation (§ 538.23(1)). Separately, § 538.25(3) allows civil fines of up to $10,000.
The word doing the work there is "knowing." A yard that can show a consistent, systematic process is in a materially different position from one relying on individual diligence at the scale.
Florida Scrap Metal Law FAQ
Who does a Florida recycler register with?
The Department of Revenue, under § 538.25 — $6 per location, plus a $6 annual renewal per location on October 1, with fingerprint processing costs.
How long must records be kept?
Not less than three years from the date of the purchase transaction.
When do transactions have to reach law enforcement?
By 10 a.m. of the business day following the purchase, transmitted electronically to the appropriate law enforcement official.
How long do I hold a detached catalytic converter?
10 business days after the purchase date before processing it or removing it from the place of business, subject to the statutory exceptions.
How ReSpark Helps
ReSpark helps Florida recyclers organize records, manage customer information, simplify reporting, and maintain operational consistency across one or multiple facilities.
Thumbprints, seller photographs, hold periods, and a 10 a.m. export deadline are all easier to hit when the ticket captures them at the point of purchase and the report builds itself overnight.
If you want to see what that looks like against your own volumes, book a demo or estimate your return first.
Where to read the law: Florida Statutes Chapter 538 (Online Sunshine), Part II — secondary metals recyclers.
This article is general information for recyclers, not legal advice. Statutes are amended every session and local ordinances may add obligations on top of state law — confirm the current text with Florida regulators or your own counsel before changing a procedure.
