Not so very long ago, the streets of the world’s cities – from London to New York, from Toronto to Chicago – rang with the calls of the scrap-metal and rag-and-bone man. Many who lived there still recall the plaintive cries of the dealer with his horse-drawn cart:

“Rags and old iron!” “Any old iron!”

British comedian Peter Sellers even made a song about the trade, which he sang with a classic Cockney accent:

“Any old iron, any old iron, any, any, any old iron.
You look neat
Talk about a treat
You look dapper from your napper to your feet.
Brand-new smile, dressed in style,
With yer father’s old green tie on.
I wouldn’t give you tuppence for your old watch-chain.
Old iron, old iron.”

One of the longest-running television series was on the BBC in the 1960s and ‘70s. Called Steptoe and Son, it was about the life and times of a scrap-metal and junk dealer. It was copied by the US, whose version – All in the Family –was NOT about scrap metal!

By now you may be wondering just what I might be leading up to, but bear with me, there’s more rambling ahead.

Libyan economy based on scrap metal

For 10 years after the end of World War II, the prime export of Libya – then ruled by the Sunni kings – was scrap metal. At that time Libya was classified as the poorest country in the world. Most of us recall the classic tank battles in which the British and Germans, led by Field Marshals Rommel (German) and Montgomery (British), pursued each other back and forth at high speeds across the Libyan desert. The battles involved huge numbers of tanks and other hardware, all of which was left behind when it broke down or was blown up.

The wrecked war machines didn’t rust because there is little or no moisture in the desert air. So after the war was over, scrap-metal merchants gathered up all the tanks, trucks, jeeps and other destroyed hardware and exported it to Europe, which was desperately short of metal at that time.

Fortunately for Libya, when it finally ran out of wrecked vehicles, oil was discovered in the very same desert. The rest, as they say, is history.

We still recognise the value of scrap metal. Dealing in the product has become an industry in which dozens of scrap-metal merchants make millions and retire early to places like Cayman. Society in most developed nations has sophisticated recycling programs that involve re-using metals of all kinds, which are collected and then melted down and incorporated into other products.

Manhole covers vanishing

Nowadays, the hunger for scrap metal is undiminished – with China leading the way, with an insatiable demand for the stuff. So insatiable, in fact, that this story caught my eye the other day. I don’t have a dateline on it, but it ran on the BBC. The story leads off with a headline saying that police are still trying to get to the bottom of the manhole cover/drain cover scam.

In Scotland, thieves have stolen about 50 manhole covers across Fife, creating concerns about public safety. They started disappearing from roads and pavements in villages and towns, and investigators said the thefts have left large holes which can be dangerous for drivers and pedestrians.

“The cast iron covers are very heavy and police suspect that two or more people using a vehicle have been involved in taking them. It is costing, officials estimate, more than £200 to replace each of the covers. That works out at about £10,000 so far,” the story continues.

Constable Maria Murphy, of Fife Police, said: “We are very concerned for the safety of motorists and pedestrians in the areas where the covers have been stolen from. They leave a large hole in the road or pavement causing potential danger to road users or pedestrians.”

There was a similar series of thefts in Aberdeen in the spring, the BBC reports, and fears were again voiced about the threat to public safety caused by the chasms left in the streets.

“Grampian Police said at the time they thought the covers were being sold for scrap. A rise in scrap metal prices had increased the value of the missing items to at least £13,000. The largest covers were fetching up to £700. The thefts follow similar incidents in Gloucester, West Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.”

The story states boldly at the end: “China appears to be the world leader in the manhole theft racket. In Shanghai, 1,500 covers went missing in two months and the thefts were blamed for at least eight deaths.”

A big problem in China

In the China Daily, Liu Shinan has a good old rant about the problem, stating that stealing manhole covers has become an country-wide problem. “The crime takes place in all Chinese cities,” he says.

“Last year, 24,000 manhole covers were stolen in Beijing. Shanghai reports the loss of 12 manhole covers on average each day. Missing manhole covers are particularly dangerous. Every year there are reports of children’s deaths and motor vehicle accidents because of the road traps.

“The theft of public facilities has been a chronic headache for many years but there seems to be no effective solution to the problem. Most of the thieves are vagrants from rural areas, who rely on it for a means of living. It happens so often that as a manhole cover is replaced, it is stolen the next day.

Because of the small value of the iron cover, punishment for the theft is usually light, and not enough to deter offenders,” says Mr. Shinan.

The major reason for this increase, he says, is the greatly expanded number of waste recovery (recycling) stations. Recycling has become a lucrative business in China in recent years as waste materials dumped by a better-off urban population contain more and more valuable ingredients, says Mr. Shinan. “This has given rise to many new waste recovery stations that are not registered. The government abandoned the practice of registering newly set-up stations during the reform of urban administration. That makes it difficult for the police to monitor the industry.”

He suggests some drastic action to stop the thefts. “Another important thing necessary is a change in the judgement of the nature of manhole cover theft. Since missing manhole covers usually lead to loss of human lives, theft and dealing in the object should be regarded as a serious offence, for example, ‘crime of endangering public safety’, and severely punished. The laws and regulations concerned should be revised. “

What has this got to do with Cayman, you are now asking.

The first thing I will ask is whether you have noticed the enormous piles of Ivanised cars still sitting next to the dump in George Town. Then I will ask if you’ve noticed a large number of burned-out hulks of cars sitting by the roadside, not to mention the ones that are spontaneously combusting as a result of salt-water damage from Ivan. None of them are hard to miss.

I refer to a story that ran in the Net News a couple of weeks ago saying that several local entrepreneurs have got together to collect these cars and ship them to scrap-metal dealers in the US.

Cayman should export more scrap metal

Spearheaded by John MacKenzie of the West Indian Marine Group, two barges filled with scrap metal, each weighing a little under 2,000 tons, left Grand Cayman in March for New Orleans for recycling. These are the largest shipments of scrap metal ever to have come out of the Cayman. The scrap metal shipped came from dumpsites in George Town and Frank Sound, from cars stripped of their fuel tanks and batteries and crushed; old appliances; and roofing metals, among other sources.

A year after hurricane Ivan, the Net News reported, on 21 September a shipment of crushed hurricane-damaged cars, amounting to 1,100 tons of scrap metal, sailed from George Town harbour, destined for China for recycling.

It’s not an easy job, and Minister of Communications, Works and Infrastructure Hon. Arden McLean said that the Cayman Islands would again be exporting scrap metals, but according to the news story he gave no clear indication as to when this will happen.

What is needed is for Mr. McLean’s ministry to take a lead role here and form a partnership with the West Indian Marine Group to strip, organise, crush, bundle and export the massive amount of scrap metal that still litters the Island. It doesn’t seem to me that it should be too big a job. It’s something we should have insisted that MC Restoration set up before they left with their $10 million post-Ivan dollars.