WEST VIRGINIA — City officials call it discarded material. Yard-sale shoppers call it inventory. The owner calls it “still good,” and that is the beginning of the legal and philosophical dispute.
To determine whether an object is junk, first ask if it has a good motor. A vehicle may lack a title, windshield and measurable floorboard, but a good motor grants it protected status for at least fifteen additional years.
Next, inspect its potential parts. A lawn mower with no deck may contain a perfectly useful bolt. A refrigerator on the porch may have a shelf that fits a different refrigerator nobody currently owns. Discarding either would be wasteful.
Location matters. An object beside the road with a price written on cardboard is merchandise. The same object ten feet farther back is a project. If weeds have grown through it, the weeds are holding everything together and should not be disturbed.
Ask when the owner last used the item. “Last year” can describe any point after 1996. “The other day” narrows it to the current decade.
Nothing becomes urgently necessary until the afternoon after it is thrown away.
Wood receives special protection. Every board shorter than six feet is a shim. Every board longer than six feet is for a future porch. Bent nails may be straightened. Straight nails should be saved somewhere they cannot be found.
Metal objects are never junk because scrap prices might go up. Plastic objects are never junk because a grandchild could need them for a school project. Glass jars are inherited. Buckets are beyond regulation.
The final test is simple: mention hauling the item away. If the owner immediately names three possible uses and one relative who might want it, the item is still good.
Gary “Transmission” Adkins advises outsiders not to touch anything without permission. The rusted truck may look abandoned, but its owner knows exactly where it is and recently ordered a carburetor for it.
