Recycling and waste management Company, SITA UK, is in the fight against metal thefts following the launch of a scheme aimed at cutting off the demand for stolen metal.
From now on all metals brought onto any SITA UK site around the country, whether it be from the general public or scrap metal dealers, will be checked under a UV light for traces of SmartWater before being processed. If any traces are found then SITA UK will reserve the right to refuse to handle the metals and where necessary will inform the appropriate authorities.
Once applied to metals, SmartWater tags it with a DNA-style forensic signature which cannot be removed and is uniquely registered to its owner. The solution is almost invisible under natural light, but under ultraviolet (UV) light it glows bright green.
Metal thefts across the UK have risen over the past 18 months due to demand in the Far East, which has pushed up the worldwide price of metals such as copper and lead. Although prices have dipped, metal theft continues to be a problem. The British Transport Police, which is leading a nationwide task force to combat metal theft have declared the problem a growing concern, with railway cable, church roofs, boilers from void properties and electricity substations amongst the most frequent targets.
In 2007, Ecclesiastical Insurance issued SmartWater to over 16,000 Anglican Churches to mark lead flashing of roofs. Elsewhere in the UK organisations including Scottish Power, Network Rail, Anglian Water, United Utilities, as well as Baptist, Catholic and Methodist Churches are all marking up metals with their own SmartWater forensic signature.
Police forces across the UK are equipping themselves with UV lights to check suspected stolen metals for traces of the forensic marking product, and now SITA UK have become one of the first recyclers in the UK to follow suit and start checking for forensic liquid.
Daniel O’Connor, Private Sector Commercial Director for SITA UK, said: "If metal has been marked with SmartWater it is because its owner believes it to be at risk of theft. We are therefore making it a companywide policy to check all metals for the solution in order to deter thieves. This action is the first of its kind in the UK and is an important step forward in our ongoing attempts to help suppress this type of crime. We believe that by checking all goods for SmartWater we are sending out a powerful message to criminals that they will not be able to profit from their activities."
Det Sgt Chris Hearn, National Intelligence Manager for British Transport Police, said: "Metal theft is a classic supply and demand issue. Activities such as the one SITA UK has implemented to check for security markings at the point of sale will help to choke off the market and hopefully, in conjunction with other activities that are ongoing by the police and our partner agencies to tackle this crime type, we will begin to see the level of offending decrease. SITA UK has taken an industry lead on this and we welcome that."
Phil Cleary, Chief Exec of SmartWater, said: "By refusing to handle SmartWater marked metals SITA UK are cutting off the means for thieves to sell on stolen goods. By doing so you are removing the point of stealing it in the first place."
