Every day the price copper trades on goes higher and higher in both the London Metal Exchange and COMEX markets. That unfortunately doesn’t always translate to higher scrap prices as mills don’t necessarily want the material, but the headlines about copper prices always bring increased theft of the red metal.
As a very thorough Wall Street Journal article last week noted, copper scrap theft incidents doubled in the first half of 2025. Copper pricing was elevated at the time but recently it has hit even higher levels, drawing more attention. Copper theft is very pronounced at job sites for new construction or renovations, wiring facilities and all kinds of industrial warehouse sites. This theft increases costs for all of us because it increases costs of construction, wiring, roofing and other jobs. Beyond that copper roofing, spouting and sadly even brass (70% copper/30% zinc) grave markers become targets.
For this story in video content, click below:
https://youtube.com/shorts/PiX5RIXQGLM?si=9LMnB5ULWiZW-RoP
Scrap metal yards like Sahd Metal Recycling do all we can to minimize scrap metal theft and we do pay particular attention to copper and copper alloy scrap. Getting a drivers license scanned in for every transaction is a way to help deter theft and keep a record of transactions that can be searched and referenced should an incident arise. The customer also gets a ticket with their sale and it is an acknowledgement that the material is indeed theirs to sell. When the customer gets to the office to scan their ticket and receive payment a picture is taken of that transaction.
There are many other ways scrapyards like ours and other members of the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA)work every day to limit opportunities for theft. Contractor forms verifying an employee is able to represent a company for transaction, requiring material ownership letters and certificates of destruction are all practical ways upfront to limit the incidence of theft. Even using all of these tactics, sometimes the work we have to do is on the back end of the crime.
No scrapyard wants to buy stolen metals and we are all disgusted to find out when we have unknowingly bought metal that was not owned legitimately. The scrap value is often worth only a fraction of what the new materials are worth, but that doesn’t matter to the criminal looking for a quick sale. ReMA scrap yards like us work with police when there is an incident and if there is a suspect we can search by name to find the transaction.
There is also a system that brings scrapyards together with local police and the business community to stop theft. It is a national campaign with resources that can also target local communities. Scrap Theft Alert is a website that tracks theft incidents from all over the nation. Scrap Yards can narrow their search to trade areas, for us we are most interested in Columbia, Lancaster, Manheim, Millersville, York, Mount Joy, Marietta, New Holland, Ephrata, Leola, Wrightsville, Hallam and the countless communities we serve in Lancaster, York, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks and Cumberland Counties. Any of the stakeholders (citizen, company, police or scrap yard) can post about a theft with pictures of the type of material stolen. The website includes countless success stories on bringing criminals to justice as well.
When we all work together and are on the lookout for potentially stolen scrap metal we make a difference in the communities we serve. That’s why we believe it is our responsibility to promote resources like Scrap Theft Alert as a way of making sure the scrap metal we buy is legally owned and not a result of theft.
