ReMA Upper Midwest Chapter collaborating with Minnesota lawmakers on changes to copper theft legislation

The Upper Midwest Chapter of the Washington-based Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) has filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Commerce regarding a law that is supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, involving the sale of copper for recycling.

The Minnesota legislature passed a law requiring sellers of copper scrap to obtain licenses as part of an omnibus bill in April. Twin Cities-based recycler Neil Byce tells Recycling Today the copper-related legislation was a “grain of sand on the huge beach” that was the omnibus bill and was in response to copper thieves’ targeting of light poles, which creates a safety concern.

With its lawsuit, the ReMA Upper Midwest Chapter is seeking an injunction to prevent the law from going into effect as planned in January as it works with the state legislature to further clarify the legislation, which fails to define basic terms, including the types of copper scrap covered by the legislation, Byce says.

The legislation attempts to address copper theft by “creating a restrictive mechanism that would create a barrier to entry” by requiring sellers of copper to obtain a license for a fee of $250, he explains. However, apart from specifying that plumbers and electrical contractors already licensed by the state have an implicit license to sell copper, the law fails to define the sellers who are subject to the law and required to obtain a license, including homeowners doing renovation projects and industrial accounts.  

Byce notes that copper is present in small amounts in many items from automobiles to microwaves to printed circuit boards, yet the law does not define the types of copper sales that would require licensing.

“Copper is in everything. Where does [the law] start and stop? Bare-bright No. 1 and 2 is easy to identify,” Byce says, adding that plastic contributes considerable weight to coated wire. “Is this still regulated? Printed circuit boards have trace amounts of copper. Are those susceptible too?”

Given the ambiguity, as well as the price of the license, he fears copper-bearing scrap could end up being landfilled rather than recycled if the law goes into effect. With the push toward electrification, recyclers don’t want the red metal lost to landfills.

Recyclers in the state are working with lawmakers to address the ambiguity of the current law, Byce says, and the injunction the ReMA Upper Midwest chapter is seeking would serve to delay enactment of the current legislation until these definitions can be established, as the next legislative session will not start until after the current legislation goes into effect.

“All recyclers would potentially be breaking the law if we didn’t do an injunction,” he says. “The law will get changed—lawmakers are open to doing that.”

Byce adds that the injunction would provide recyclers in the state with a “runway to solve the problem with legislators and law enforcement in a collaborative way."