The Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI), Ajax, Ontario, has testified in front of City of Toronto officials regarding a licensing change proposal that would entail scrap yards keeping detailed records of customers bringing obsolete items into their facilities via the peddler trade.
In mid-January, CARI President Marvin Rosenshein and Executive Director Len Shaw, along with other CARI members, attended a public meeting on the proposed licensing changes. According to the CARI Pulse newsletter, Rosenshein “informed the officials that the industry had not been adequately consulted prior to drafting the proposed changes,” but that “it was ready to participate, if officials were prepared to listen.”
Rosenshein also remarked that the current proposals were an attempt to “transfer policing responsibilities and costs on to the industry because of their lack of resources,” according to the CARI report.
Executive Director Shaw remarked that the scrap metal industry would not likely assist in crime prevention because it was not involved in the reselling of products. He also testified, along with a police representative, that crimes solved because of the previous by-law very rarely involved scrap yards, and, with the help of a Sears Canada representative, that stolen goods were not a scrap industry issue. Such goods are more typically old to second-hand stores or pawnbrokers.
Shaw also questioned whether the pending obligations were in conflict with obligations of Canadian businesses under the Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPED). That act prohibits businesses disclosing personal information collected without the consent of the individual.
CARI was able to confirm that the proposed changes would not cover business-to-business industrial transactions, but rather was meant to deal with sales from individuals (the peddler trade).
CARI has also been monitoring similar by-laws proposed in the City of Vancouver and in Sudbury, Ontario. The Vancouver Police have agreed that the intent of their by-law was only for peddler trade and Sudbury has postponed action on its proposals, according to the CARI Pulse item.