C-DRONE GUIDE · 26 AUGUST 2026
Drone and Scrap Metal Recycling Yard: ICPE Heading 2713, Stockpile Volume and Prices
A two-hectare yard alternating between mountains of heavy scrap, stacked aluminium bales, a closely watched copper bin and the grab crane's working area : on a metal recycling platform, the stock is worth hundreds of thousands of euros and the inventory is usually done by eye, from a loader cab. On top of that sit two questions an operator carries from one inspection visit to the next : does the footprint actually in use match the surface area the site is declared or registered for, and where does the rainwater that runs through a scrap pile go before reaching the drainage network ? Here is what a drone flight documents on this kind of site, what it does not replace, and the prices.
Published on 26 August 2026, reviewed on 29 August 2026 — regulations in force as of August 2026.
Metal merchants, sorting yards, shredders: which ICPE heading for which activity
A metal merchant, a scrap transit platform, a sorting and preparation yard for metal waste all fall in France under ICPE heading 2713 : transit, grouping, sorting or preparation for reuse of non-hazardous metals or metal waste, metal alloys or non-hazardous metal alloy waste. The heading expressly excludes four neighbouring ones, including 2712, covering end-of-life vehicle yards, which we address in a dedicated guide to drone inspection of an end-of-life vehicle yard : a site that depollutes and dismantles cars does not fall under 2713, even if it then sells the scrap. One quirk changes everything for how the site is run : the classification criterion for 2713 is neither a tonnage nor a volume, but the surface area of the installation. Between 100 and 1,000 m², the site falls under declaration with periodic inspection ; from 1,000 m² upwards, it moves to registration, no authorisation regime existing for this heading at all. General requirements are set, for both regimes, by two orders of 6 June 2018, applicable since 1 July 2018 and shared with headings 2711, 2714 and 2716.
As soon as a treatment operation is added to sorting — metal shredding, heavy shearing, industrial-scale torch cutting —, classification becomes more complex and moves beyond 2713 alone. A non-hazardous waste treatment installation falls under heading 2791, subject to declaration below 10 tonnes treated per day and to authorisation above it, governed under declaration by the order of 23 November 2011. Where the treated stream includes hazardous waste, heading 2790 applies instead, under authorisation. Large shredding lines commonly combine several headings within a single prefectural order, with shredder residue stockpiles classified separately. The order of 22 December 2023 on fire risk prevention accordingly covers installations subject to authorisation under headings 2710, 2712, 2718, 2790 and 2791. Keep the principle in mind : on a scrap platform, 2713 governs the yard and the stock, another heading governs the machine.
Photogrammetric volume measurement of scrap piles and metal bales
A scrap pile is about the least cooperative object imaginable for an inventory : irregular shape, sharp edges, a slope angle resembling nothing calculable, and a bulk density that varies enormously between light iron, heavy demolition scrap and turnings. Estimating from the ground, from a loader or with a tape measure gives a rough order of magnitude at best. A drone photogrammetric survey produces a point cloud and a 3D model of the stockpile, from which a volume is extracted by difference against a reference surface — the yard slab, surveyed once and for all. The method is the one detailed for aggregate stockpiles in our guide to drone stockpile volume measurement, part of our drone surveying and photogrammetry offer ; it transposes directly to a scrap yard, with one added benefit : nobody has to climb onto the pile or walk between working machines.
That transposition is not theoretical. A study by Grazia Tucci, Antonio Gebbia, Alessandro Conti, Lidia Fiorini and Claudio Lubello, published in 2019 in Remote Sensing, measured by drone photogrammetry the volumes of stockpiled material coming from separate waste collection and entering the recycling chain, comparing two flight configurations — vertical and oblique camera — against a terrestrial laser scanner survey used as ground truth (see the study on Google Scholar). Metal bales additionally lend themselves to automatic counting on an orthophoto : a tidy stack of pressed aluminium or steel is counted from imagery far faster and more reliably than by hand. One golden rule stands throughout the trade : converting cubic metres into tonnes assumes a bulk density that is never constant, and the weighbridge remains the only figure enforceable against a buyer. Volume measurement is there to steer, to inventory, to document a dispute or an insurance declaration — not to invoice.
Operated footprint, pile height, cladding and perimeter fence: compliance seen from above
Since heading 2713 is classified by surface area, the footprint actually occupied by storage is no operational detail : it is the parameter that sets the site's regime. And a scrap yard is a living place : a storage area has an unfortunate tendency to creep, over months, onto a manoeuvring area, a leftover strip or the perimeter band along the fence. A georeferenced orthophoto, overlaid on the plan annexed to the declaration file or to the prefectural order, makes that discrepancy immediately readable : a storage outline against a permitted outline, with no interpretation needed. Repeated once or twice a year on the same flight plan, it builds a comparable series that proves very useful ahead of an environmental inspectorate visit, on a change of operator, or when preparing an extension application.
The 3D model from the same flight adds a second figure nobody measures spontaneously : pile height. The orders of 6 June 2018 cap outdoor storage height at six metres, and at three metres where the deposit lies within 100 metres of a residential building — a constraint made very real by the neighbours of an urban platform, and one that a well-fed pile of light iron exceeds without anyone noticing. The same pass documents the condition of the sorting shed's cladding and of the perimeter fence : sheets deformed by a grab strike, loosened panels, fence sections flattened or hidden by a pile leaning against them, a damaged gate. These checks fall under our drone façade inspection offer and usefully complete a ground patrol that sees neither the top of a cladding panel nor the back of a pile.
Impermeable surfacing, yard run-off and thermal patrol: what the drone sees and what it misses
Rainwater running through a scrap pile picks up oils, metal particles and fines ; that is why the orders of 6 June 2018 require the ground of areas where metals and metal waste are stored or handled to be impermeable and equipped to collect run-off, and require the site to hold retention capacity for potentially polluted water, including firefighting water. The issue is anything but theoretical : a study by P. Blake, C. S. Chamberlain, D. Chambers, B. Clarke and J. Mendham, published in 1987 in Science of the Total Environment, measured elevated cadmium, copper, lead and zinc levels in the immediate vicinity of scrap metal yards and car breakers yards, with the degree of contamination correlating to the type of scrap handled (see the study on Google Scholar). An overflight after heavy rain shows what the yard's topography actually does with water : standing puddles revealing a reverse slope, gullies in an unsurfaced area, run-off paths towards a badly placed gully pot, an overflowing oil separator, an iridescent sheen on a pond surface. The drone analyses nothing : it maps where the water goes, and gives an engineering consultant the visual basis for a diagnosis or a yard resurfacing project.
The thermal patrol has the same profile : useful, targeted and strictly confined to surfaces. It spots a pile of automotive shredder residue whose surface temperature diverges from the rest of the stock, a smouldering pocket that has not yet broken through, an engine or tyre burning slowly inside a skip, a hot spot on an outdoor electrical cabinet. What it does not see deserves to be stated bluntly : an intact lithium battery lost in a stream of light iron is thermally invisible until it is damaged. A study by Terazono, Oguchi, Akiyama, Tomozawa, Hagiwara and Nakayama, published in 2024 in Resources, Conservation & Recycling, documented ignition and fire incidents caused by lithium-ion batteries in Japanese waste treatment facilities and showed that most of them stem from cells damaged by the mechanical shock of sorting equipment (see the study on Google Scholar) : the risk is born in the machine, not in the resting pile, as our guide to thermal monitoring of a waste sorting centre explains in detail. The drone patrol, part of our drone thermal imaging offer, complements fixed detection and human surveillance ; it never replaces them.
Mission method and prices
The mission fits into half a day for a typical yard, a full day for a multi-hectare platform combining a sorting shed and a shredding line. It starts with a briefing with the operations or QHSE manager : whether the grab crane and loader stop during low-level passes, truck and articulated lorry traffic, the weighbridge position, live areas (overhead lines, shear power supply), and a take-off point clear of the traffic lanes. Coactivity is the real subject on this kind of site : a moving grab crane and a drone do not share the same airspace, and the prevention plan is settled before the flight, not on the morning itself — our guide on how to host a drone mission on an industrial site details that preparation. The flight then runs a high-density photogrammetric pass over the yard for the orthophoto, the 3D model and the volume figures, close manual-flight shots of cladding, fencing and water collection structures, then a thermal pass if included, ideally at the end of the day or before sunrise to maximise thermal contrast.
Two precautions frame the quote. On the airspace side, a scrap platform frequently sits in a peri-urban business park, sometimes under an aerodrome approach path or next to a railway corridor : the zone is checked on Géoportail before any commitment, and flying over built-up areas follows its own rules, detailed in our guide to flying a drone in French cities. On the contractual side, require the contractor to hold up-to-date professional liability insurance : on a yard where machines weighing tens of tonnes are moving, that is a non-negotiable prerequisite.
2026 prices (excl. VAT) : €400 to €800 for a one-off volume measurement of the piles and a bale count on a typical yard ; €900 to €1,800 for a full campaign combining a georeferenced orthophoto, a 3D model, volume measurement of every stockpile, a check on the operated footprint and a photographic report on cladding and fencing ; €350 to €700 for a standalone thermal patrol or a targeted inspection of the water collection structures ; €250 to €500 per visit for recurring monthly or quarterly monitoring on the same flight plan. A travel charge applies beyond a 30 to 50 km radius. Request a quote stating the yard's surface area, the number of piles and bale zones to measure, and the goal (inventory, ICPE file, commercial dispute or fire prevention).
Frequently asked questions
Can a drone volume measurement serve as evidence in a dispute with a scrap buyer?
It is dated visual evidence, not a contractual measurement. Scrap transactions are settled on the weighbridge, a regulated metrology instrument whose reading prevails, and converting volume into tonnage requires a bulk density that varies widely with metal type, compaction rate and inert content. Photogrammetric volume measurement remains highly useful upstream : it establishes the state of a stockpile on a given date, before and after a collection, and documents a turnover gap nobody could otherwise demonstrate. It is a case file exhibit, not a weight ticket.
Does the drone let me check that I comply with the surface area I am classified for under heading 2713?
It gives a measurable, dated picture of it, which is already a great deal. A georeferenced orthophoto overlaid on the prefectural order's plan or on the declaration file immediately shows whether a pile spills onto a neighbouring plot, whether a storage area has crept over months onto ground meant for traffic, or whether storage has been improvised outside the permitted footprint. The regulatory surface area remains defined by the ICPE file and its plan, not by the drone : the aircraft documents the apparent discrepancy, the legal analysis belongs to the operator and its adviser.
Does the thermal camera detect a lithium battery lost in a metal stream?
No, and that limit must be stated plainly. An intact lithium battery buried in a scrap pile or tipped into a skip of light iron shows no thermal signature at all until it goes into runaway. The drone reads a surface temperature : it will spot an already established hot spot — fermenting shredder residue, a smouldering surface pocket, a slowly burning engine or tyre — but not a latent risk deep inside a stockpile. Prevention rests on sorting at intake, separating streams likely to contain cells, and fixed detection ; the thermal patrol is only its visual complement.