Know the laws: Beware of scrap metal theft



With the current sale price of metals so high there are both opportunities and pitfalls that are approaching the agricultural community. While farmers can find scrap metal on their land to take to recycling centers to earn a little extra income, there is also a rampant increase in the amount of scrap metal theft. Farmers need to be extra careful about suspicious activity near old barns and equipment, especially if there is copper lying around.

Scrap metal theft is up 81% nationwide since 2008. Virginia has laws on the books meant to protect both legitimate scrap metal sellers and scrap metal recyclers. Metal recyclers as defined by the state Code are required to collect certain information from any seller of regulated metals and keep records of such information for not less than five years.

Required information that must be collected includes:

• A record of the seller’s identification information from a driver’s license or other government‐issued current photographic identification that includes the seller’s full name, current address, date of birth, and social security or other recognized identification number

• The time and date of the transaction

• The license plate number of the seller’s vehicle

• A description of the items received from the seller