The Metal Recycling Collective that was set up six weeks ago to fight the cash ban for scrap metal has already reached 225 members.
Set up by Jon O’Brien, who has been a scrap dealer for 17 years, the organisation plans to become a new, permanent trade body for scrap metal recyclers.
He said: “We have now got 225 members and this keeps growing all of the time. We have got companies small and large involved that are not happy with the cash ban.
“The consensus is that there needs to be a cap on cash payments of maybe £200 as we will need to write a cheque or do an electronic transfer that will take time as well as lose business if people don’t have a bank account.”
He added that members of the Metal Recycling Collective are frustrated that the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) “has got the ear of the Government”, but there are hundreds of dealers that are not BMRA members and were not represented in the consultation on the cash ban.
As a result, he intends that the Metal Recycling Collective will remain a permanent trade body to represent the interests of its members.
He added that the Project Tornado scheme involving the police, BMRA and other agencies was already doing a good job in cracking down on metal theft.
“Project Tornado was perfect for stamping out metal theft,” he said. “When we had police in our yards, we worked really well with them. They were not interested in checking our bank details, but they would ask to check our tickets and CCTV and then identify the people they were after.”
He also said that the Metal Recycling Collective was also backing the idea of a legal challenge being undertaken by independent scrap dealers to delay the introduction of the ban on cash payments for scrap metal.
