Did a South Carolina hobbyist need a recycler permit to buy small amounts of nonferrous metal?

Plain-English summary

In May 2022, the South Carolina Attorney General concluded that a person buying small amounts of nonferrous metal for a hobby did not need a permit as a secondary metals recycler. The statutory definition focused on someone “engaged ... in the business of paying compensation” for used nonferrous metals. Hobby use for casting, artwork, or similar activities did not, by itself, fit that business definition.

The office did not decide whether any particular purchaser was genuinely acting as a hobbyist. It said that depended on facts for a court to resolve and suggested the Legislature might clarify the boundary.

What this means for you

Hobbyists buying metal

The opinion distinguished hobby purchases from operating a secondary metals recycling business. It did not create a numeric exemption based simply on buying a “small amount”; the purpose and nature of the activity mattered.

Secondary metals recyclers

The office quoted the statute's permit requirement for a person in the business of paying for nonferrous metals that had served their original economic purpose. Its answer did not excuse someone operating that kind of business merely because they described purchases as hobby related.

Law enforcement

The opinion left factual disputes over a buyer's actual activity unresolved. It provided a reading of the statutory definition, not a finding about a specific transaction.

Common questions

Q: Did a hobbyist need a secondary-metals-recycler permit under this opinion? A: The Attorney General said no for a genuine hobby purchase, such as the casting and artwork examples in the request.

Q: Was there a specific small-purchase threshold?
A: The office did not identify one. Its reasoning turned on whether the person was in the business described by the statute.

Q: Could a buyer call a resale business a hobby and avoid a permit? A: The opinion did not decide anyone's facts. It said whether an activity was truly hobby related was for a court to determine.

Background and statutory framework

A legislator asked whether small purchases for activities such as casting metal or making artwork triggered the permit in S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-680. The Attorney General read the statute's definition of “secondary metals recycler” and concluded that a genuine hobbyist was outside it, while leaving specific factual classifications open.

Citations and references

• S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-680: nonferrous-metal definitions and recycler permit provisions quoted in the opinion.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/opinion-on-whether-the-purchase-of-small-amounts-of-nonferrous-metals-for-a-hobby-requires-a-permit-as-a-secondary-metals-recycler-pursuant-to-section-16-17-680-of-the-south-carolina-code-of-laws/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/media/o5biwbtj/02982346.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

ALAN WILSON
ATTORNEY GENERAL

May 9, 2022

The Honorable Micah Caskey
PO Box 5875
West Columbia, SC 29171

Dear Representative Caskey:

You have requested an opinion of this Office regarding whether the purchase of small amounts of nonferrous metals for a hobby requires a permit as a secondary metals recycler pursuant to section 16-17-680 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. Specifically, you state the following:

I respectfully request an opinion concerning the applicability of S.C. Code § 16-17-680 to purchases of small amounts of nonferrous metals for hobby-related activities (e.g., casting, bullets for muzzle-loading rifle, casting artwork). Specifically, does a hobbyist constitute a “secondary metals recycler” as defined in subsection (A)(4) such that he or she is required, among other things, to obtain a permit to purchase nonferrous metals? Concerns have been raised by constituents who believe hobby- related purchases of nonferrous metals should not subject them to such requirements, but remain concerned about the possibility of criminal prosecution under the statute if authorities disagree.

LAW/ANALYSIS
Section 16-17-680 provides:

(A) For purposes of this section:

(3) “Nonferrous metals” means metals not containing significant quantities of iron or steel, including, but not limited to, copper wire, cooper clad steel wire, copper pipe, copper bars, copper sheeting, aluminum other than aluminum cans, a product that is a mixture of aluminum and copper, catalytic converters, lead-acid

TuemBeRT C. DENNIS BUILDING © POST OFFICE Box 11549 @ COLUMBIA, SC 29211-1549 © TELEPHONE 803-734-3970 FACSIMILE 803-253-6283

The Honorable Micah Caskey

Page 2
May 9, 2022

batteries, steel propane gas tanks, and stainless steel beer kegs or containers.

(4) “Secondary metals recycler” means a person or entity who is engaged, from a fixed site or otherwise, in the business of paying compensation for nonferrous metals that have served their original economic purpose, whether or not the person is engaged in the business of performing the manufacturing process by which nonferrous metals are converted into raw material products consisting of prepared grades and having an existing or potential economic value.

(B)(1) A secondary metals recycler shall obtain a permit to purchase nonferrous metals. . .

(C)(1) A person or entity who wants to transport or sell nonferrous metals to a secondary metals recycler shall obtain a permit to transport and sell the nonferrous metals . . .

(D)(1) It is unlawful to purchase nonferrous metals in any amount for the purpose of recycling the nonferrous metals from a seller unless the purchaser is a secondary metals recycler who has a valid permit to purchase nonferrous metals issued pursuant to subsection (B) and the seller has a valid permit to transport and sell nonferrous metals issued pursuant to subsection (C) ...

S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-680 (1976 Code, as amended).

We must rely on the rules of statutory construction to construe section 16-17-680. Rainey, 341 S.C. 79, 85, 533 S.E.2d 578, 581 (2000), the court stated:

The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the legislature. Charleston County Sch. Dist. v. State Budget and Control Bd, 313 S.C. 1, 437 S.E.2d 6 (1993). Under the plain meaning rule, it is not the court's place to change the meaning of a clear and unambiguous statute. In re Vincent _J., 333 S.C. 233, 509 S.E.2d 261 (1998) (citations omitted). Where the statute's language is plain and unambiguous, and conveys a clear and definite meaning, the rules of statutory interpretation are not needed and the court has no right to impose another meaning. /d. at 233, 509 S.E.2d at 262 (citing Paschal _v. State Election Comm'n, 317 S.C. 434, 454 S.E.2d 890 (1995)). “What a legislature says in the text of a statute is considered the

. In Hodges v.

The Honorable Micah Caskey
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May 9, 2022

best evidence of the legislative intent or will. Therefore, the courts are bound to give effect to the expressed intent of the legislature.” Norman J. Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 46.03 at 94 (ace eee

In section 16-17-680, a “secondary metals recycler” is defined as “a person or entity who is engaged, from a fixed site or otherwise, in the business of paying compensation for nonferrous metals that have served their original economic purpose, whether or not the person is engaged in the business of performing the manufacturing process by which nonferrous metals are converted into raw material products consisting of prepared grades and having an existing or potential economic value.” S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-680(A)(4).

The plain and ordinary meaning of “secondary metals” explains the Legislature’s reference to “nonferrous metals that have served their original economic purpose.” It also clarifies the phrase “the business of performing the manufacturing process by which nonferrous metals are converted into raw material products consisting of prepared grades and having an existing or potential economic value.” “Secondary metals” are “metal derived wholly or in part from scrap.” See

Dictionary.Com at www.dictionary.com/browse/secondary-metal; Collins Dictionary at

www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/secondary-metal. They are also defined as “metals produced from refining scrap metals or alloys” and “metal recovered from scrap by

remelting and refining.” See TheFreeDictionary.Com at
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/secondary+metal; Mindat.org at https://www.mindat.org/glossary/secondary_metal.' Reading the South Carolina definition of “secondary metals recycler” in conjunction with the general meaning of “secondary metals,” it appears that a secondary metals recycler purchases scrap metal that will be industrially processed into raw materials for use in new products.

Pursuant to its definition, a “secondary metals recycler” is also in the “business of paying compensation” for scrap metal. Because the word “business” is defined as a “commercial enterprise carried on for profit,’? a secondary metals recycler purchases scrap metal with the objective of making a profit.

It appears that legislative intent in enacting section 16-17-680 was to regulate participants in the scrap metal recycling industry. Support for this is found in section 16-11-523, which addresses obtaining nonferrous metals unlawfully. See S.C. Code Ann. § 16-11-523. In White v, State, 375 S.C. 1, 7, 649 S.E.2d 172, 175 (Ct. App. 2007), the court explained:

In construing a statute, this Court should not consider the particular clause being construed in isolation, but we should read the clause

' Mindat.org is the world's largest open database of minerals, rocks, meteorites and the localities they come from. Mindat.org is run by the not-for-profit Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.

? Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).

The Honorable Micah Caskey

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May 9, 2022

Pursuant to 2008 S.C. Acts 260, section 16-17-680 was amended to provide for the purchase of nonferrous metals by secondary metals recyclers and section 16-11-523 was added. Reading the statutes together shows that the purpose of regulating the purchase of scrap metal was the

in conjunction with the purpose of the whole statute and the policy of the law. South Carolina Coastal Council v. South Carolina State Ethics Comm'n, 306 S.C. 41, 44, 410 S.E.2d 245, 247 (1991). Statutory provisions should be given a reasonable construction consistent with the purpose of the statute. Jackson _v. Charleston County Sch. Dist..316 S.C. 177, 181, 447 S.E.2d 859, 861 (1994). Statutes that are part of the same act must be read together. Burns v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 297 S.C. 520, 522, 377 S.E.2d 569, 570 (1989). Statutes must be read as a whole and sections that are part of the same general statutory scheme must be construed together and each given effect, if reasonable. Higgins v. State, 307 S.C. 446, 449, 415 S.E.2d 799, 801 (1992).

deterrence of metal theft.

The Legislature broadly provides in section 16-17-680 that it is “unlawful to purchase nonferrous metals in any amount for the purpose of recycling” unless the purchaser is a secondary metals recycler with a valid permit and the seller has a valid permit. S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-680(D)(1) (emphasis added). The word “recycling” is not defined. However, as stated by the court in

Greenville Baseball v. Bearden, 200 S.C. 363, 20 S.E.2d 813, 816 (1942):

In our opinion, the Legislature did not intend to regulate hobbyists in section 16-17-680. A true hobbyist does not purchase scrap metal with the objective of selling it to a scrapyard. He

It often happens that the true intention of the Legislature, though obvious, is not expressed by the language employed in a statute when that language is given its literal meaning. In such cases, the carrying out of the legislative intention, which is the prime and sole object of all rules of construction, can be accomplished only by departure from the literal interpretation of the language used. Hence, Courts are not always confined to the literal meaning of a statute; the real purpose and intent of the lawmakers will prevail over the literal import of the words...

It is a familiar canon of construction that a thing which is in the intention of the makers of a statute is as much within the statute as if it were within the letter. It is also an old and well-established tule that words ought to be subservient to the intent, and not the intent to the words.

The Honorable Micah Caskey
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May 9, 2022

acquires it for his own personal use. We therefore do not believe that a person who purchases nonferrous metals for a hobby-related activity is required to obtain a permit as a secondary metals recycler.

CONCLUSION

In our opinion, a person who purchases nonferrous metals for a hobby-related activity is not required to obtain a permit as a secondary metals recycler. We recognize that whether an activity is truly hobby-related is a fact-specific issue that must be answered by a court and not by this Office. See Op. S.C. Atty. Gen., 1989 WL 406130 (April 3, 1989) (“[b] ecause this Office does not have the authority of a court or other fact-finding body, we are not able, in a legal opinion, to adjudicate or investigate factual questions.”) Accordingly, the Legislature may wish to clarify this issue.

Sincerely,

Clin Ve A,

Elinor V. Lister
Assistant Attorney General

REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY:

ert D. Cook
Solicitor General