Regional recycler says scrap yard law not evenly enforced

Business is down at Southern Recycling scrap yards in Baton Rouge and elsewhere along the Interstate 10 corridor, COO Chip Hunter says, because a new law forbidding cash payments is not being followed by all competing scrap yards. “There are scrap yards that are just ignoring the law because it’s not being enforced by all police jurisdictions. We’re complying with the law, and we’re losing business as a result,” says Hunter, who oversees operations at yards in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houma, Morgan City, Lafayette and Lake Charles. “We’re off by as much as 10% to 30%, depending on the location.” The new law went into effect Aug. 15. It was passed earlier this year in an attempt to stem the thefts of copper and other metals. Hunter says law enforcement agencies in East Baton Rouge, Ascension and Livingston parishes are “aggressively enforcing” the law but that those in West Baton Rouge, Lafayette, St. Mary and Calcasieu parishes are not. —Steve Sanoski