On July 23, 2012 the Provincial Metal Dealers and Recyclers Act (the “Act”) will come into force. The objective of the Act is to provide a consistent approach across the Province to regulating the scrap metal industry and to, hopefully, curb theft of scrap metal. As a result, local governments ought to ensure that any of their existing or future scrap metal bylaws are congruent with the Act.
To date, regulation of scrap metal dealers has been sporadic across the Province, with some local governments enacting bylaws to regulate scrap metal, and other local governments opting not to regulate. Local governments who have enacted scrap metal bylaws often found it challenging to successfully enforce such bylaws.
The Act, to be administered and enforced by the Province, requires metal dealers and recyclers who purchase regulated metal to register with the Province. As well, a person will be unable to sell regulated metal unless they provide their identification to the dealer or the recycler and explain the origin of the metal. Metal dealers and recyclers will be required to submit the information about the nature of the metal, its origin and details about the seller to the local police authority.
It is too early to comment on how the Act will be practically enforced and whether local governments will feel the pressure to supplement the Provincial enforcement by enacting local bylaws. That said, with the Act coming into force, local governments who wish to regulate scrap metal dealers may enact local bylaws to that effect, as long as such bylaws do not contradict the requirements in the Act. Local governments who already have scrap metal bylaws would be prudent to review these bylaws for consistency with the Act. To the extent that existing bylaws contradict the Act, they may be found inoperative.