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    • Local Scrap Metal Thefts Cost The City $4M A Year


    by on May 22nd, 2012

    Source: Mike Peel via Wikimedia Commons

    Valuable scrap metal has been disappearing from curbs on recycling nights and it is costing the city millions.

    “People are renting U-Hauls and vans and going around the streets the night before [recycling], when people put stuff out, and they are taking it,” said Lieutenant Robert DeRossi of the Sanitation police to the New York Post.

    Refrigerators, ovens and air conditioners are worth a lot of money when sold to scrap yards. Roughly, 11,000 missed scrap pickups have been reported this year.

    New York City holds a contract with Sims Metal Management to recycle the metal. In return, the city gets a percentage of the money Sims earns.

    Management at Sims estimates that about $4 million has been lost to theft.

    The city Department of Sanitation’s police force battles scrap metal thieves by staking out locations with a lot of scrap metal recycling.

    Yesterday, undercover officers spotted a curb full of metal chairs, fencing and other scrap metal on the corner of Benson Avenue and Bay 32nd Street. Then, they parked and waited.

    Shortly after, a van pulled up and two men got out and loaded it full.

    The officers confronted the men and issued them a $2,000 fine each, as that is the first-time offenders amount. The second time around, the fine is increased to $5,000.

    “These people . . . know which streets, which days, which areas. These guys know better than us when this stuff goes out,” said one of the officers on the scene.

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    • Leavemealone

      since when is it illegal to take garbage, or in this case recyclables from the curb? Is the city going after all the folks who take my bottles and cans as well?

      • http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/ Ned Berke

        Technically trash is city property once it is placed on the curb.

        • http://www.facebook.com/edward.farkhiev Edward Farkhiev

          My shop calls up scrap metal removal companies all the time. It’s a HUGE business and they provide an incredibly useful service to smaller shops like mine by cleaning us out of refuse.

    • Elias Friedman

      So… the lesson between the lines here is that people are throwing away money and instead of donating it to the city, we should bring the metals to the scrap dealers ourselves and pocket the cash!

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