For the first time in nearly half a century, the legislation governing metals recycling in England and Wales has been replaced and modernised. The Scrap Metal Dealers' Act 2013 comes at the end of a year of change for the industry. Exempting motor vehicle salvage operators and certain itinerant collectors from the ban on cash payments created an unlevel playing field because such operators were able to continue to pay cash for scrap. This caused the volume of scrap metal available for purchase by the legitimate trade to fall by 5% to 10% across the country. Material was clearly being syphoned off by exempted operators as well as criminal traders paying cash for scrap.
NSTL
