430 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



the serious consideration of the impact of automobiles on our urban 

 environment. 



CLAYTON M. HOFF. It would appear from the discussion both by 

 members of the panel and by members of the audience that it is 

 extremely important to move the usable material of scrapped auto- 

 mobiles back into production through the medium of electric fur- 

 naces or blast furnaces as rapidly as possible. 



Based on my past experience, partially in the metallurgical field, 

 I am under the impression that the price of scrap steel or scrap iron 

 depends both on quality and on supply and demand. Supply and 

 demand is also perhaps a function of time as there have been periods 

 over the past few decades when the demands for scrap were much 

 greater than they are at present and the price was accordingly higher. 

 This situation suggests the possibility of stockpiling scrap, anticipating 

 a future greater demand. The investment tied up in stockpiling, I 

 think, would be a justifiable subsidy. 



May I suggest for consideration a method of handling automobile 

 scrap which would accomplish two purposes, the elimination to a 

 great extent of the automobile junkyards and the stockpiling of this 

 type of scrap for future use. This would be to use abandoned quar- 

 ries, gravel pits, etc., which exist throughout most of our country for 

 stockpiling baled or condensed scrap steel from salvaging auto- 

 mobiles. 



Junked automobiles could be brought to the storage point and 

 compacted there but it would seem perhaps more economical to 

 utilize portable shredders or balers and bale the scrap steel at the 

 automobile junkyard site and transport the baled scrap, obviously at 

 a lower cost, to the quarry or storage site. 



It would appear that there would be little or a very low rental 

 charge for the use of the quarries or abandoned gravel pits. The 

 baled scrap would be stored in larger quantities out of sight of the 

 public or highway. The unsightly automobile junkyards would dis- 

 appear or be greatly diminished in area. The conversion operations 

 could easily be confined to a small and shielded area of the former 

 extensive junkyard. 



It is also suggested that this method of salvage and storage be not 

 limited to automobile scrap but to all types of scrap iron and steel, 

 including abandoned and rusting farm machinery and the millions 

 of containers that litter our roadsides. 



