As managing editor of Scott MacDonald of Maryland Thermoform Corp. saw the blog post on milk crate bandits and passed along a tip for other plastics processors:
Plastic pallets aren't the only things being stolen for the scrap value, he says, pointing to a story from the Baltimore Business Journal about a wave of scrap metl thefts at an industrial park in southwest Baltimore.
According to the story, thieves have stripped copper parts from Maryland Thermoform's rooftop air-conditioning units twice in the past 18 months, causing more than $100,000 in damages.
"In all fairness to the police, they're professional, courteous and hardworking, but they're overworked," MacDonald said. "They don't have enough resources. More patrols would stop this, but I don't think the city is going to put the money into it," he told the newspaper.
Wow. I guess people will steal anything that's not nailed down... or in this case, even things that are attached. I've heard of people stealing copper plumbing from vacant homes, but nothing like this.
MacDonald suggests that other plastics processors take steps to guard against this sort of vandalism.