Cracking Down on Scrap Dealers

The city of Vancouver, British Columbia is cracking down on the illegal sale of scrap metal. To combat rampant theft, the city’s police department recently conducted a program called Project Alchemy.

According to a spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department, theft of property that is sold to scrap yards in the area totaled around $1 million a year. To combat this, the police set up a sting, whereby representatives from the department posed as thieves and brought material to scrap metal recyclers throughout the city.

According to the Police Department, with the exception of one company, which wanted a minimum of four tons of material, every scrap recycler readily accepted the material from the operators.

After finding that the six recyclers in the city and surrounding area were found to have accepted blatantly stolen property, the police, along with the city of Vancouver are taking steps. These include consideration of suspending or even revoking the business licenses of the scrap metal recyclers who fail to comply with the reporting requirements; there will be increased monitoring of all material brought into recycling businesses; and in the future, instead of just threatening suspension of a license, companies could be arrested on criminal charges.

Vancouver’s scrap metal recyclers are required to ask for a photo identification, and they are have to report what material they receive.

The six scrap metal companies with businesses under review are the following: North Star Metal Salvage Ltd., Capital Salvage Co., GO Green Bottle Depot, MB Superior Scrap Metals Ltd., Regional Recycling, Davis Trading, and Pan Pacific Recycling.

DOH Fines Auto Salvage Company

The Hawaii Department of Health has fined Leeward Auto Wreckers/Albert's Towing and its president, Albert Tenora for the alleged violation of their solid waste management permit. The DOH imposed a penalty of $11,880.

The violations occurred at the company's Kapolei auto salvage facility where it accepted about 1,000 scrap tires in February 2006, violating its solid waste management permit, according to the DOH.

The permit allows Leeward Auto Wreckers only to accept scrap tires it they are part of a vehicle brought in for salvaging.

In addition to the fine, DOH ordered the company to stop accepting scrap tires not part of a vehicle and to properly dispose tires that exceed the company's permitted storage capacity.