Going too far to catch a metal thief hurts recycling

Scott J. Stolberg

Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008 | 2 a.m.

As the owner of a recycling company in North Las Vegas, I read with great interest the Las Vegas Sun’s Aug. 17 editorial, “Catching metal thieves.” Our company agrees with most of the proposals Metro Police have put forth, and has already voluntarily put into practice many of these steps. However, some of the proposals will be counterproductive, with unintended negative consequences.

As a leading metal recycler in the valley, AAEQ Manufacturers and Recyclers already requires sellers to show us a government-issued photo ID. We keep copies of all seller IDs on file, and we record the description and license plate number of each seller’s vehicle.

In addition, we will soon implement a computerized point-of-purchase system that will generate daily reports that can be sent to Metro for review. The system will photograph every transaction to capture an image of the person being paid. The system will store the person’s index fingerprint for later review.

Every seller will be easily identified after his first visit to our facility. We have a long history of cooperating with Metro, including a review of a list of suspects. After checking our database, we found none of these individuals had been to our facility. We feel encouraged that our system is working as it should to identify thieves in our community.

With Southern Nevada’s poor recycling rate, I think it would be counterproductive to add restrictions that would discourage people from participating in this responsible “green” practice of metal recycling. In addition, further restrictions would punish honest recycling companies by adding an unnecessary cost that could lead to job loss in an already struggling economy.

For example, one proposal would require recyclers to wait three to five days before mailing a payment check to a seller. Many AAEQ customers do not have the wherewithal to wait this long. Plus, the cost for our company to issue checks for the 100 or so transactions we complete each day would exceed $125,000 annually.

Another restriction would force recyclers to separately hold materials for five days. This would cause us to no longer accept all recyclables from the public, because we don’t have the space required to hold 500 transactions.

Our trade association, the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries, has worked with jurisdictions nationwide to help solve the metal theft problem. When strict identification and reporting laws have been implemented, metal theft has declined substantially. Let’s face it — most thieves do not want their ID and fingerprints kept on file. This is usually all it takes to deter them.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with local law enforcement agencies to pass reasonable, uniform requirements that will allow honest recyclers to help keep items out of landfills and create employment opportunities for Southern Nevadans.

Scott J. Stolberg is president and chief executive of AAEQ Manufacturers and Recyclers.