Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH FEBRUARY 2015 | 21 Operations & Assets chipping operations, and will be the largest Orc installation in the world. The first Turbogen unit to go into the US was a 1MW unit bought by Albany County Sewer District,New York state. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, please send your pictures and details of the project to: paul.newton@fav-house.com or call 01342 332085 Pipe up Nicola Guest T he scrap metal industry was until recently tarred with a less than savoury reputation. But cashless trading was introduced in 2012 and was swily fol- lowed by the 2013 Scrap Metal Dealers Act, introduced to combat the nation's metal the epidemic. Both have, in many areas, proved successful, with metal the reduced by between 40 and 70 per cent in England and Wales. Complacency should be avoided, though – as shown by a recent spate of attacks on overhead cabling for utility firms. With a lack of police funding there is a real possibility that as metal prices rise, so too will the metal the statistics and it is essential that scrap producers store their materials in a secure location or container. The impact on industry attitude towards scrap metal merchants is just starting to show – loyalty was previously of huge importance but it is finally being questioned. Attitudes to poor service (which many turned a blind eye to when cash was readily available) are now changing. Service is king – customers now rightly demand a compre- hensive paper trail and a full health and safety assessment. All should insist on checking the credentials of the scrap purchaser – are they allowed to buy your metal scrap or is your company inadvertently feeding criminality by dealing with an unlicensed individual or organi- sation? Many are visiting their preferred scrap metal merchant and undertaking a full site audit to ensure the quality of company they are dealing with is appropriate. Scrap is no longer scrap in the traditional sense, it is now a commodity adding value directly to a company's bottom line. Savvy companies that work in industries where pricing is overly competitive will consider the scrap value of the contract when quoting for new business – oen giving them a clear advantage over competitors. Pricing remains keen, but for larger companies, their duty of care obligations are now of major importance, especially when ISO is taken into consideration. Smaller companies oen remain unaware as to exactly what their duty of care obligations from the Environment Agency are – in the simplest of terms, a producer of waste (including scrap metal) is responsible for ALL waste from cradle to grave. Failure to adhere to the duty of care could leave a scrap producer with a potential Environment Agency prosecution. Professional scrap metal merchants should assist you in fulfilling and understanding your obligations. If your merchant is not providing you with paperwork, the chances are that you may be breaching your duty of care. #showyourmetal Nicola Guest, marketing manager, Alchemy Metals "Scrap is no longer scrap in the traditional sense, it is now a commodity adding value to a company's bottom line" "With lack of police funding there is a real possibility that as metal prices rise, so too will metal theft"