ANDERSON — Achieving recognition by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for being environmentally friendly was easy for local auto salvage yard Rangeline Auto Parts.

It just did what it’s always done.

The salvage yard recently received IDEM’s Indiana Clean Yard Gold Level status for adhering to environmental standards and instituting best management practices to sustain environmental protection. Bruce Palin, IDEM’s assistant commissioner for its Office of Land Quality, presented Rangeline Auto Parts with the recognition.

“It’s wonderful,” Rangeline Auto Parts Vice President Cheryl Garmon said. “It felt real good.”

The yard is the fourth in the state to achieve Gold Level status, a step above receiving recognition for being an Indiana Clean Yard, Garmon said. Businesses who are awarded Gold Level status have implemented practices to sustain their levels of environmental protection and maintained an effective recycling program for all scrap generated, according to IDEM.

Although Rangeline Auto Parts had to strive for Gold, its everyday practices made it a candidate for the Clean Yard recognition.

“We’ve always done it because we’re right by the river,” said Garmon, whose father, John Eicks, bought the yard in 1973. “We’ve always pulled the fluids out; we’ve always pulled the batteries out and the freon.”

Garmon said she didn’t know whether all yards in the state took the same precautions.

“I would hope so; I don’t know so,” she said.

Rangeline Auto Parts buys wrecked, salvageable and non-running vehicles and recycles the parts and fluids.

“We sell what’s left to make new ones,” Garmon said. “Everything in them we send back to somewhere.”

The business employs five workers now, but usually up to 10 workers during warm weather. Eicks has been involved in the industry for years, starting in Indianapolis before he bought the yard at 2308 S. Rangeline Road. Although he’s semi-retired now, he lives nearby on a house on the property.

“He keeps a good eye on us from up there on the hill,” Garmon said. “He’s done a fine job. He’s really changed it from what it was when he bought it.”

Rangeline Auto Parts also offers a nationwide locating service for parts and sells new vehicle parts if they don’t have used ones. Workers try to keep 1,000-1,500 vehicles on the lot at a time.

Anyone who operates a salvage recycling business or recycles, sells or salvages scrap metal from vehicles is eligible for the voluntary Clean Yard designation. Yards have to comply with environmental regulations, hold necessary licenses and approvals and maintain an effective recycling program, according to IDEM.

The program was developed to encourage businesses to take responsibility for protecting their environment and allows them to self-monitor environmental conditions and fix problems. The first step in participating in the program is to conduct a self-inspection of the facility. IDEM provides businesses with a DVD and workbook to help them complete the agency’s checklist to become Clean Yard designated.

“The program benefits everyone — the business, the community and the government,” says program information on IDEM’s Web site. “Businesses will run clean and productive facilities, the community will feel secure in knowing that the business in their neighborhood is protecting them from harm that could result from business operations and the government (IDEM) can focus attention on those businesses who don’t participate and who pose significant environmental problems.”

Keeping the local environment clean has always been a priority for Rangeline Auto Parts, Garmon said, especially because of the yard’s proximity to the White River.

“The wildlife, they roam around out there,” she said. “We live by the river and that’s our water too. That’s the right way to do it.”

Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.