FEATURE
Scrap legislation has helped but there is still room for improvement
Scrap Metal Dealers Act Five Years On
THE Scrap Metal Dealers Act (SMDA) 2013 replaced the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964, to create a revised regulatory regime for the scrap metal, recycling, and vehicle dismantling industries in England and Wales.
The Act makes it illegal for anyone to buy scrap metal using cash, and introducing a requirement to verify the seller’s identity and keep records. The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 is the equivalent law in Scotland.
The SMDA was introduced to tackle rising levels of metal theft and to make it more diffi cult to dispose of stolen metal, which was costing the UK an estimated £220 million per annum and posed a threat to the security of the national infrastructure, such as power, transport and telecommunications.
Licensed dealers The SMDA requires all scrap dealers and motor salvage operators in England and Wales to apply for a licence from their local authority – valid for three years. The Act defi nes a scrap metal dealer as someone who “carries on a business which consists wholly or partly in buying or selling scrap metal, whether or not the metal is sold in the form in which it was bought, or carries on business as a motor salvage operator”.
For skip hire companies the requirement for a licence will depend on the proportion of the business related to scrap metal, in terms of value or volume. If a skip hire company provides skips at businesses/demolition sites purely to process and sell on the scrap metal, this may be considered to be the whole or part of their business and therefore a licence is required.
However, a company that only rents skips to households where recoverable scrap metal forms a minor part of the skip contents may not require a licence.
Review of SMDA When the Act was introduced, it was stipulated it must be reviewed within fi ve years and in December 2016, the Home Offi ce wrote to interested parties to get feedback on the impact of the SMDA. The respondents felt the Act had
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improved regulation of the scrap metal industry and helped to achieve reductions in the level of metal theft. The overwhelming view was the Act should continue in force, and the Government agreed with this view.
The statistics show a decline in metal theft off ences recorded by the police in England and Wales, year on year from end of March 2013 to end of March 2017.
A few respondents noted – while there may be fewer crimes – these were often exemplifi ed by more serious criminality, and had a signifi cant impact on victims and communities.
Reports from a specialist church insurer, Ecclesiastical, showed there has been a rise in gangs making off with entire church roofs. They also noted telecoms cabling and cable for railway signalling were also being stolen.
In early April 2018, Essex Police issued a press release to alert people about the continued incidents of lead and metal thefts from older properties, as well as commercial and residential, rural and urban properties.
A similar story from the Black Country in late December 2017 showed thefts had trebled in a year. There were also further reports of thefts, and attempted thefts of cables near railways, resulting in considerable damage and causing major disruption to commuters at Waterloo and Paddington earlier in 2018.
Reducing theft levels The SMDA has worked, but enforcement activity by both local authorities and the police has been a key component in reducing theft levels, which needs to remain if the Act is to continue to have the same eff ect. Indeed, the latest property crime data from the Offi ce of National Statistics for 2016-17 revealed metal theft had increased in the last quarter of the year – the fi rst such increase since the SMDA was introduced - perhaps stimulated by the soaring prices for metals.
The Home Offi ce have created a police-led National Metal Theft Working Group, to better understand the current nature of metal theft and what more can be done to prevent them.
In the meantime, it is clear the scrap metal trade will continue to be blighted by illegal operators, who have neither signed up to the act, operate without the relevant licences and do not register their operations with the relevant environmental regulator.
It is important those working in the scrap metal recycling and vehicle dismantling industries have the correct licences in place, and their staff have the relevant qualifi cations to ensure their business operations are compliant.
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