Because copper is 100 percent recyclable
July 19th, 2007 by The Bosphorus
Warning….
Don’t let your copper tubing get yanked.
Because copper is 100 percent recyclable and selling scrap copper can be lucrative, thieves will target the material when the price increases.
Indeed.
A copper thief or thieves hit the Knox County Library System’s Howard Pinkston Branch sometime over the weekend and caused enough damage to force the facility to close for repairs.
The thief or thieves raided four of the building’s five air conditioning units.
“There was not a bit of copper left in them,” said Mary Pom Claiborne, communications administrator for the library system. “I don’t know why they did not take copper from the fifth one.”
This is going to cost Knox Co tax payers $15,000.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
But, wouldn’t the recycler wonder about someone who repeatedly shows up with a ton of obviously pulled from buildings copper wire?
July 19th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
There may be a law requiring recyclers to ask for photo id… Not sure if TN requires it, but other states do.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Man, I read about that the other day. Made me think of the people who tried to life a spool of copper wire from a power substation a couple of years ago.
A spool of, uh, electrified copper wire.
Didn’t go so well.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I just finished reading about someone who set themselves on fire while using a blow torch to remove copper from a building.
Geez! I think it might be safer to just get a job already.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Noble Metals in Oak Ridge has had the same problem in the past on two or three occasions. It got so bad they put an armed guard on the site.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Our local paper today told of a father of 9 who went into an abandoned building to get the copper and electrocuted himself by cutting a live wire.
If you do renovations, plumbing, or construction excess copper is abundant. Once the coating is stripped off it all looks the same. Even with ID’s, it would be hard to catch the thieves.