Scrap market in Akkar: A potentially lucrative business if properly recognized and organized

Al Mustaqbal newspaper published a report on the scrap market in Akkar which has now turned into a flourishing domestic business although it used to rely on illicit trafficking of metal scraps from Syria and Iraq via Wadi Khaled and the Bekaa.

The report notes that the scrap market resells used metal items such as car batteries, old fridges, electrical appliances, used cars, kitchenware, metal rods, etc… It is located behind the metal moratorium and has a wide range of beneficiaries including organized gangs specializing in the theft of metal items.  According to the report, these locations also serve as a hideout for stolen goods including stolen electrical wires. The report details the different stages of this trade based on information gathered from connoisseurs according to whom, the most important skill is to be able to identify places that are likely to contain scrap metals and to spot these via several reconnaissance trips.  This is followed by either a simple theft of items or purchase.  Search for scrap metals covers rubbish bins, neighborhoods of car repair shops, near parking lots as well as in villages and towns that do not care much about scrap metal as well as in places where solid waste is abundant.  Items are identified, stolen and/or bought and them sorted into different kinds of metals and then sold to scarp marketplaces.  Sale prices are set according to weight as well as type of metal and its usage.  Transportation to Beirut and then to the port of export is handled by other professionals in the field.

The report outlined the problematic of organizing and controlling this business especially given the rise in the cost of metal and the increasing prominence of the concept and practice of recycling which increases the number of interested parties.  According to one of the traders in scrap metal, sellers are constantly subjected to pressure, pursuits and suspicions by the relevant authorities.  However, according to the same source, most people are unaware that reselling scrap metal is a well recognized trade in many countries where it is well organized and linked to recycling factories.  The source refutes the idea that all those involved in this trade are outlaws and notes that they play a role in safeguarding resources.  He adds that the trade should be organized and controlled by the law same as other trades in Lebanon.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal 17 April 2014