
Photo courtesy of ScrapTheftAlert.org
The ScrapTheftAlert system deployed by the Washington-based Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) has sent out three alerts in the first week of August, following five alerts in the final three weeks of July.
Generators and processors of recycled metals have had to be vigilant in protecting their materials this spring and summer based on the eight alerts sent since July 12, as well as another seven alerts in June and another nine in May.
An examination of the two dozen ReMA ScrapTheftAlerts sent between May 1 and Aug. 7 shows a wide geographic distribution of the incidents. However, if several states and provinces are combined into a Great Lakes region, that loosely defined area has seen half of the 24 thefts.
Alerts concerning incidents from May to early August occurring in the Great Lakes region include: New York (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (3) and one each in Illinois, Michigan and Ontario.
Beyond that, in the West, three theft incidents have been reported in California and one in Arizona, while in the South, six metals thefts have been reported: three in South Carolina and one each in Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. One incident also has been reported in Maryland and another in New Hampshire.
Metals recyclers and processors appear to be the most common victims of the thefts, with other materials stolen from warehouses, truck trailers and parking lots.
Measured by material value, three of the most recent reports concern losses of $250,000 or more, including the theft of $345,000 in nickel pellets in Baltimore.
Another report concerns an estimated $257,000 worth of insulated copper wire stolen in DeKalb, Illinois, and $250,000 worth of copper chops in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Of greater value yet is the reported theft in Los Angeles last month of three copper rocket nozzles, weighing 9,000 pounds each and valued at $3 million.
An FBI investigation is looking for what are described as large rocket nozzle cones (raw, nontreated/unprocessed) that are missing from a warehouse.
A majority of the alerts involve theft of red metal items or scrap grades, including copper wire, tubes and pipe and a case in Pennsylvania concerning bronze cemetery vases.
Aluminum also shows up as a theft target in forms including insulated cable, rails, bars and truck wheels.
More information about the ScrapTheftAlert system can be found on a website dedicated to the alerts and their distribution.
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