Scrap copper is today’s gold and is leading the way in a new rash of theft and criminal activities that is costing some businesses millions of dollars a year.  Not only do businesses suffer the financial loss of the stolen copper, but all the replacement value and labour costs of reinstalling the copper in their plants.  An additional by-product of copper theft is trespassing. Thieves must all trespass onto a company’s premises or break and enter in order to access the copper.

Consider the thief who was electrocuted trying to steal copper from a transformer in Brampton recently.  He was found with 3rd degree burns at the side of the road.  Sadly, this illustrates the risks that thieves are now willing to go to get their hands on copper.

And in Quebec, thieves made off with two massive bronze statues by famed artist Jean-Paul Riopelle valued at $1 million.  The statues were recovered but not until after they had been defaced and dismantled.

In the past year, Hydro One lost $1 million in copper thefts from their GTA yards.  The case was solved after discovering that the copper was being diverted to a construction site in Hamilton.

A major factor in this is the increase in copper prices, which have climbed 22% in the past year as production at mining companies were affected by falling ore grades, labour disputes and adverse weather.

In a recent investigation, I had the opportunity to visit dozens of scrap yards and speak directly with employees.  Staff is very aware of the different types of commodities they accept and will know if something is out of the ordinary.  An underlying theme is that the scrap yards don’t want to take in anything that may be seized afterwards as they then lose the money they paid out.

ScrapTheftAlert.com is a new website hosted by the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries developed in response to the growing trend of scrap thefts.  This website is an alert system which distributes information to members within a 160 kilometer radius of a loss.  Law enforcement and scrap dealers can sign up to receive alerts when thefts occur.  This benefits all parties as it informs scrap dealers of what commodities to watch out for and to alert law enforcement.

There is no question that the problem will get worse before it gets better.  Only with an awareness of the problem, will businesses start to take steps to safeguard themselves from copper thefts with improved alarm systems, target hardening and awareness campaigns.