Metal law may have little impact

A scrap metal dealer in the Central Okanagan has mixed reactions to the government's attempt to halt metal theft.

New guidelines introduced Wednesday by the Liberal government states all metal recyclers must register with the province, keep accurate records and share any transactions with police on a regular basis.

Failure to comply could result in fines up to $100,000 and six months in jail.

The regulations will come into effect July 23.

"I think it will be a positive step in that it will put all of the metal buyers on the same page. As to how effective it will be at catching people who are stealing copper, there I have some questions as to whether it will be relevant or not," says Paul Marois, owner of Planet Earth Recycling in West Kelowna.

"I'm not sure it will help the RCMP in their mission to catch copper and metal thieves."

Marois says it's hard to detect what has and has not been stolen.

"The problem, especially with copper, is there are no identifying marks on it. It's not like when someone steals your mail and you have an address to trace back to it," says Marois.

"Copper stolen from a job site is no different than copper purchased from a reputable company."

Planet Recycling has only been in business for three years, but Marois says he's not seeing many thieves trying to peddle their goods anymore.

"In our first year, as soon as we put our open sign up we had every crack head in the valley taking a run at us. We weeded them out quickly," says Marios.

"If it's something that's questionable, we just turn them away."

Marois adds metal recyclers and scrap dealers in the Central Okanagan work together.

He says if somebody shows up at a particular dealer with what appears to be stolen metal, they will contact the other dealers to let them know to watch out for a particular person or vehicle.

Video-Kelly Hayes