CITY ALTERS RECYCLING BYLAW

Langley City Council has gone back to the drawing board with its metal
recycling bylaw, scrapping parts that had raised concerns among local
business owners.

"The most contentious issue was that the scrap metal dealers had to
retain for seven days any goods purchased in non-commercial
transactions," said Roy Beddow, deputy director of development for the
City.

Beddow said the recyclers' main worry was the impact the rule would
have on their day-to-day business operations, having to retain goods -
making space and setting them aside for an entire week.

The Scrap Metal Dealer Regulation bylaw, as it was first written last
December, was part of a regional effort, involving representatives
from different Lower Mainland municipalities.

The bylaw included the seven-day retention rule, to help control cash
transactions, rather than typical business-to-business transactions,
Beddow explained.

"It was an attempt to deal with thieves coming in with stolen
materials and wanting a quick cash payout to buy drugs or whatever."

But after scrap metal recyclers balked at the requirement, the bylaw
was referred back to staff, who worked with the Canadian Association
of Recycling Industries (CARI), RCMP and West Coast Metal Recycling -
Langley City's only scrap metal recycler - in piecing together the new
draft.

The main revision is an exemption from the seven-day goods retention
requirement for dealers who use approved video surveillance.

At Monday night's meeting, where the revised bylaw received third
reading, Councillor Ted Schaffer asked for, and got, reassurance that
the video would be of higher quality than the dark and grainy images
often released by police seeking the public's help in solving crimes.

"Are the cameras a better grade than what you would see on the news,
where you can't tell if it's male or female, a cat or a dog?" he asked.

"In this case it's important that one is able to identify the goods
from the video image. If someone brings in something that later turns
out to be stolen property, you have to be able to identify it," said
Beddow.

"When I saw the original draft, boy was I scared," Marcel Gottwald,
co-owner of West Coast Recycling told council on Monday night.

"We've come a long way. I'd like to thank council and staff. . . .
It's going to work out really well."

"What started out as quite a contentious issue and process was
resolved in a satisfactory way," Beddow added.

Mayor Peter Fassbender said the revised bylaw, scheduled for final
adoption on Sept. 29, will be sent out as a possible template for
other communities, to help ensure consistency in scrap metal recycling
practises throughout the Lower Mainland.

Metal theft "is an ongoing issue - a very costly issue," said
Fassbender.

At a meeting in Aldergrove on Monday night, Langley RCMP Insp. Richard
Kornarski was asked about the constant metal thefts around town and
what can be done about it.

He pointed to the entrepreneurial efforts of criminals that make it
near impossible to stop the crime. When scrap yards were asked to ban
people riding up on bicycles with trailers and pushing shopping carts,
a Langley City resident took this as an opportunity to start a new
business venture.

He now meets the scrappers at drop points and picks up their stolen
metal, pays them a fee and takes the stolen goods up in his truck or
van, said Kornarski.