Organized recycling theft ring booming on commodity crest?! on clarkhoward.com

There have been a lot of media reports about curbside recycling being stolen by thieves. Clark read about criminal rings in the San Francisco Bay area that snatch aluminum cans and then sell them to recyclers!

We're in a time of commodity boom following a long period of commodity bust. The price of most commodities is on the upswing. Think about gasoline. There's an economic principle called "inertia bias," which refers to our perception that the price will just keeping going up.

But the boom and bust of commodity prices is cyclical and well-documented throughout history. There's nothing new about this. It's the drop in the value of the dollar, however, that is piling on the extra hurt right now.

Over the last several months, Clark has explained how the Federal Reserve devalued the dollar to help out Wall Street. But did you know that if the dollar weren't mismanaged, the price of a barrel of oil would be around $80 -- instead of $140?

Food (and fuel) for thought, indeed.

What others are saying

Makes cents to me
Keep in mind that CA has a redemption program for beverage containers. At 5 cents a hit, I think it's great that someone who needs the nickels will redeem them.

I recently moved to NYC and am really glad that there are folks who will take the containers. Where possible, many residents will separate redeemables out and leave them on the fence or such, and late at night someone will come by collecting them in their shopping cart.
By Carroll @ 07/10/08 07:54:17 AMreport abuse
Organized recycling theft ring booming on commodity crest?!
Who cares if someone is taking the cans from the recycling bins. What a great idea! At $0.57 per pound it is worthwhile.

I am teaching my six year old daughter abour recycling. We have a seperate bin for the cans. When the bin is full I take the cans to a recycling plant and they buy the cans from me. The money goes into my daughters piggy bank. She is asking our neighbors for their cans. My daughter is learning to recycle and save at the same time! By the way the recycle yard is only a half mile from work, so no big deal for the gas.
By Steve @ 07/09/08 01:09:49 PMreport abuse
If one thinks it is ridiculous to pay the government to do what can be done by others (who make money at it), explain this:

why won't those people take newspaper and plastics and glass and not just aluminum cans? newspaper/cardboard, glass and plastics are collected by my city's curbside recycling program and just sit at the recycling site since there isn't much of a market. I feel my city should take my curbside recycling program payment and use that money to make up the loss from shipping those items off to be recycled rather than just collecting money from me and sitting and doing nothing with those materials. At a very lease, buy chippers and chip the plastics and put them in the landfill as they would take up much less volume in the landfill as plastic chips than as plastic jugs, bottles, etc.
By anonymous @ 07/09/08 02:41:24 AMreport abuse
"Criminal Rings"
The folks who want the aluminum cans in my trash are welcome to them.

The fact that we ARE REQUIRED to PAY the government to do that which others will do for free (and make money while doing it) is ridiculous.
By Tom Jedrzejewicz @ 07/08/08 07:59:23 PMreport abuse
Inflation Machine
Inflation is caused by the Inflation Machine called the Federal Reserve, which by the way, is not federal and has no reserve.
By Abolish the Fed @ 07/08/08 07:02:39 PMreport abuse
Devaluing the dollar
The dollar was "devalued" by the banking industry during the real-estate overlending bubble, not by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve merely made adjustments to take account of what had already happened.
By MC @ 07/08/08 05:37:21 PMreport abuse

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Jul 08, 2008 -- Organized recycling theft ring booming on commodity crest?!

What others are saying