Editor's Focus - Black Hats, White Hats

For generations, scrap recyclers have operated far from the limelight. For years this essential industry has operated without much public scrutiny, often in tucked-away parts of cities.

However, during the past year, the scrap metal industry has been brought into the light, and it is not necessarily all good news. On the positive side, the Wall Street Journal has done several features on the explosive markets for a host of scrap metal commodities. Other mainstream publications also have written about this essential business recently.

While generally fair-minded, the coverage has also illuminated a less positive side of the scrap industry: Specifically, rampant metal theft, most notably of copper and aluminum, has garnered a lot of attention.

On any given day, you can Google the words "scrap metal" and find a slew of stories about metals being stolen from public spaces; utility equipment that has been stripped of its metals; and private businesses and homeowners who have found their properties robbed of metal.

While associations and individual companies say that scrap metal companies who purchase blatantly stolen material are in the minority, as the cliché goes, "Perception often becomes reality." Thus, citizens and legislators who are tired of having stadium bleachers, electrical transformers, cemetery vases, public monuments, etc., stolen may make it harder for law-abiding scrap recyclers to operate.

A growing number of local governments have begun cracking down on the scrap metal industry as a whole. For instance, some U.S. cities and counties are considering ordinances that would place greater requirements on scrap recyclers’ basic operations. Some municipalities have even proposed the possibility of revoking the licenses of those recyclers who fail to comply with these ordinances. Some proposed ordinances would require scrap recyclers to collect detailed information on everyone they buy scrap material from or implement tag-and-hold policies that would prohibit scrap dealers from processing or selling any metal for several days to as long as two weeks.

The scrap recycling industry must continue to stay in front of the problem. In addition to ISRI sending out news alerts on stolen material, scrap metal dealers can work alongside law enforcement to develop procedures to reduce the chance of stolen scrap being purchased (whether wittingly or unwittingly) by local scrap dealers.

Many scrap dealers have taken steps to publicize thefts in their regions, contacting other dealers when a theft has taken place. Randy Katz with City Scrap, an Akron, Ohio, scrap metal recycler, has been a leader in sending out such alerts.

For an industry that has struggled mightily throughout the years for positive publicity, it would be a shame to let that effort be stolen away.