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WRIC Channel 8 News reported on their
website that "American World Tours on Hull Street is just one of the
victims of recent copper thefts. Their air conditioning unit and the
copper wiring running out of it have been targeted four times
already this summer. The rising price of copper wiring has made it
profitable for thieves to cannibalize the air conditioners and sell
the wiring for scrap metal, and it is costing businesses big bucks
to fix."
During a six week period last January, 35
manhole covers or basin tops disappeared in Richmond. "We try to
replace them within 24 hours," said Britt Drewes, spokesperson for
the Department of Public Works. "We don't want anyone to fall in.
But it's not cheap: $61 a pop," she said.
Recent national scrap metal thefts
illustrate just how much copper, aluminum and bronze are in demand.
Manhole covers and sewer grates have gone missing in cities around
the world- Chicago; Milwaukee; Shanghai, China; and Calcutta, India,
where hundreds have been pilfered during the past two years. The
reigning champ, however, is Bogota, Colombia, where 10,000 manhole
covers were reported stolen last year. Aluminum siding was ripped
from vacant homes in western Ohio, and at least 100 metal light
poles have been hacked down and carted away in Maryland. Meanwhile,
copper wire has been swiped from at least 2,500 light poles in the
Kansas City area in recent months.
Thieves are not bothered about size and
weight of metal objects. Sixteen bronze plaques weighing a total 240
pounds went missing from a Minneapolis park. Three guys sold them,
cut up, to a scrap yard - and were arrested by police the next day,
according to news reports. The same fate befell an historic P.T.
Barnum statue in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but the perpetrators were
never caught.
According to an article How to Recycle
Practically Anything by Sally Deneen, "In short, people want your
scrap metal - and lots of other discards. Carpet manufacturers are
looking for more plastic bottles. Plastic lumberers are looking for
"HDPE" or "No. 2" plastic. In fact, there's a market for lots of
things that may be in your garbage can." |
