[In the 1970s some communities passed laws making it illegal to steal garbage & recyclable material put out for municipal collection. Opportunists were coming along just ahead of city trucks and skimming all the valuable materials on the curb. In the process they were taking revenue from the city because the city could not sell removed materials. Also, theses guys were tearing up bags & bins of garbage and leaving behind a hell of a mess in front of peoples' homes. When prices for glass, paper & aluminum fell in the 80s most of the "garbage stealing" problem went away. Now, it's back.]
July 7, 2008, 9:44PM Recyclable trash truly is a treasure in California Increasingly professional operations find recyclables can bring big bucks By MALIA WOLLAN Associated Press http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5876149.html SAN FRANCISCO Every Wednesday night, Bruce Johnson dutifully puts his garbage and recycling on the curb for pickup, and every week he fumes as small trucks idle in front of his home and strangers dig through his bins stealing trash they aim to turn into treasure. Glass breaks, paper flies the loot's gone hours before the waste company even arrives. "They're like an army out there," said Johnson. "They're in trucks. They're on cell phones. It's a business." With prices for aluminum, cardboard and newsprint going up and an economic slowdown putting added pressure on people's pocketbooks, curbside refuse has become a hot commodity. A truck piled high with mixed recyclables can fetch upward of $1,000; newspapers alone can grab about $600. "These guys are becoming much more organized and much more prevalent," said Robert Reed, a spokesman for Norcal Waste Systems Inc., a garbage and recycling company in San Francisco. "This has nothing to do with the lone homeless man picking up cans. We're seeing organized fleets of professional poachers with trucks." State and local officials are seeking more stringent regulations, saying lost revenue threatens the financial viability of their recycling programs. Pilfering cans, bottles and other recyclables from bins is already illegal in many places, including San Francisco and New York City. In San Francisco, poachers can be fined up to $500 and get six months jail time. In New York, thieves are subject to arrest, vehicle impoundment and fines of up to $5,000. California lawmakers are also considering legislation that would make large-scale, anonymous recycling more difficult by forcing recyclers to require picture identification for anyone bringing in more than $50 worth of cans, bottles or newspapers. Companies are also taking measures of their own. Norcal Waste contracted private investigators and installed surveillance cameras at San Francisco spots frequented by poachers. The free weekly The East Bay Express, which covers the Bay Area, hired an ex-police detective to stake out thieves and began retrofitting curbside newspaper racks to make them theft-resistant because thousands of fresh copies go missing some weeks. NorCal Waste Systems estimates that in 2007, more than $469,000 in recyclables were stolen by hundreds of trucks. The city of Berkeley values the loss upward of $50,000 annually. "Newsprint is a hot grade," said Mark Arzoumanian, editor in chief of Official Board Markets, a publication covering the paper industry. "There is a voracious demand in China and India for recycled paper." ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu ******************************* * POST TO [EMAIL PROTECTED] * ******************************* Medianews mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
