Scrap theft a major roadblock for the nonferrous scrap industry

After spending more than seven years in the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR)’s Nonferrous Metal Division as president, Robert Stein of Alter Trading says that the people who make the important decisions regarding recycling are usually ignorant about the environmental and economic benefits that are derived from scrap.

In the BIR’s Nonferrous Metals Divisional Meeting held in Paris on October 28, Stein said, “Governments too easily are swayed by political concerns when establishing policies that are often poorly thought out or are influenced by groups that are more interested in their own agenda,” during his final address. The Division is due to publish a study that records the movements of copper and aluminium scraps across the world using the data complied by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics.

Most of the scrap processing companies have complained of margin compressions and lack of resources under the present market conditions.

Voss International’s Robert Voss, who is also the chairman of the BIR International Trade Council, said that theft of scrap from containers has taken the scale of organized crime and members need to actively participate in the survey about scrap theft experiences to gain a better understanding of the problem. Stein also emphasized the need to share the details of container security violations from the scrap metal exporters with BIR as well as the International Maritime Bureau. The latter is responsible for maintaining a database regarding trading problems and issues.

“It is urgent that our members freely report such thefts so that we can work with international police agencies, transport companies and others so that our products can be protected,” he says.