Ohio officials have released the affidavit that scrap sellers must sign when they cannot otherwise prove ownership of the material they bring to a yard. The form exists to satisfy House Bill 210, the state law that tightened documentation requirements for scrap metal transactions.

The affidavit addresses a narrow but recurring problem at the scale house. When a seller arrives without proof of ownership — no invoice, no bill of sale, no receiving document — the transaction does not automatically collapse. Instead, the seller can complete the affidavit, and the yard keeps the paperwork as the record that satisfies the law.

What does the affidavit change for Ohio yards?

For recyclers and scrap dealers operating in Ohio, the release of a standard state form removes a practical ambiguity. The statute required documentation of ownership; the affidavit now defines what that documentation looks like when conventional proof is missing.

The mechanism works as follows:

• A seller presents material at a licensed facility.
• If the seller cannot provide proof of ownership, the seller completes the affidavit.
• The facility retains the signed affidavit as the compliance record for the transaction.

Ohio enacted HB 210 to tighten the paper trail around scrap metal sales, part of a broader legislative effort across states to curb theft of copper, catalytic converters and other high-value commodity material. The affidavit is the administrative instrument that gives the law daily operational effect at the counter.

Why ownership documentation matters

The material stream at issue is the same one every ferrous and nonferrous dealer touches: copper wire, brass fittings, aluminum, steel and the mixed loads that move through yards at scale. Commodity prices per tonne drive the incentive; documentation rules determine who can legally convert material into cash.

The affidavit serves as the fallback instrument in that chain of custody. A signed statement stands in for the missing invoice, and the responsibility for its accuracy rests with the seller who signs it.

What happens next

The compliance question now moves to enforcement and recordkeeping. Ohio yards will need to confirm that their intake procedures route unprovenanced material through the affidavit rather than turning sellers away or, worse, accepting loads without documentation. Auditors and law enforcement reviewing transactions under HB 210 will look for the signed forms in facility records.

The release of the affidavit marks the point at which the statute's paper requirement becomes an operational routine. How consistently Ohio dealers apply it will decide whether the law functions as written.