Buyer beware, Nova Scotia warns scrap metal dealers

The Nova Scotia government plans to crack down on the sale of stolen scrap metal by requiring dealers to keep records of their transactions.

The province needs to send a strong message to thieves who are vandalizing everything from power substations to cemeteries as they hunt for copper, aluminum and stainless steel to sell, Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said.

"Utilities have a concern because of what's been affecting substations, and more importantly how it affects the rate base. The safety issue is obvious," he said Friday.

"But when you have family members that have things like grave markers starting to be stolen … it's really not appropriate for what should be a democratic society and what is considered reasonable conduct."

Thieves are capitalizing on record metal prices. The price of copper, for example, recently shot up to $4 US a pound. The price was $1 three years ago.

In addition to power poles and grave markers, metal bandits have targeted cars, oil tanks, roofs and even sport fields. In recent weeks, thieves have made off with more than $67,000 worth of copper wire from several ball fields in the Halifax region.

Clarke said his proposed law will help make it easier for police to track down metal bandits and perhaps deter this kind of theft.

Under the scrap metal dealers and recyclers act, introduced in the legislature Friday, all dealers must ask to see a seller's photo identification, then record that information and keep it for a year.

Police would be able to use those records in their investigations.

"A scrap dealer may just take what looks like innocent scrap metal," said Clarke. "Now the police will have a means to go and follow up."

Fines for dealers not complying would range from $5,000 to $50,000.

Though some scrap metal dealers currently ask for licence plate numbers, Clarke said the proposed law would ensure that consistent records are kept across the province.

But recording all scrap metal transactions won't solve the problem of metal theft, said Len Shaw, executive director of the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries.

"Material is being put into containers and shipped offshore where the big demand is, especially China, India and Asia in general. The material never comes into the Canadian economy," he said. 

"A regulation like this might even drive that type of activity more than what's happening right now."

Shaw said his group, which counts seven scrap metal businesses in Nova Scotia among its members, is concerned dealers will be saddled with extra costs if they have to do more record keeping.

To Heather Robinson, with TNH Metals Inc. in Bedford, the government's plan seems to be a sly way of getting dealers to do the job of police.

"I think if you're not a dealer there should be accountability of where the scrap comes from," Robinson said. "But for the dealers, we're already dealing with so much volume, to have so much paperwork on top of the paperwork we already have, I think is crazy."

The proposal has the backing of Nova Scotia Power, which has seen its power lines and substations vandalized by copper-hunting thieves over the years.

Dan Muldoon, a general manager with NSPI, said there have been up to 200 incidents of copper theft since 2005, when there were only seven to 10. In 2006, two break-ins at substations resulted in power outages to thousands of customers in the Annapolis Valley and North Sydney areas.

There have been no fatalities in Nova Scotia associated with metal theft. In B.C., one man suspected of looking for copper wire was electrocuted when he cut through a high-voltage line in 2006.