A Kelowna business owner calls for stricter metal recycling regulations after the catalyst was stolen from his company car.
Steve Rowley, the owner of BC Spray Foam & Insulation, tells Castanet that he sent his employees to work on Monday, August 16, but it wasn’t long before workers realized something was wrong.
“We had a big job so we sent them away and they hit the west side and their engine light came on,” Rowley said. “You checked and the catalyst was cut out.”
Rowley became curious about where the stolen part might have ended up, so he went to several metal recycling centers in the area. He managed to find his part, but wasn’t very pleased to hear how much the shop was paying for his catalytic converter or that they never questioned where the part came from.
“You said it was from a car and the catalytic converter was from an international truck that is much bigger than a car’s catalytic converter. So they knew very well that it came from something bigger and was obviously stolen, and they thought nothing of it. I took my converter and found out how much they paid for it, which is $ 110, ”said Rowley.
The $ 110 the store paid is nothing compared to the thousands of dollars Rowley says he can’t replace the part anymore. He hopes for stricter rules for recycling metals.
“Since this is a utility vehicle, ICBC took a write-off, so I had to pay $ 2,000 of the $ 8,000 to fix it, and my truck didn’t work for two weeks so I have thousands and thousands of dollars said Rowley. “That has to be regulated. These metal recycling hubs are not accountable, they just take everything they can so the police have to step in. Someone has to monitor and regulate this industry. “
Rowley says this affected many in the area. “As soon as you start talking to people about it, you hear the stories. SPCA had met all of their vehicles last week. These people cut in yards and take whatever is of value. It’s terrible and happens too often here. “
Castanet reached out to the RCMP in Kelowna and asked what could be done to ensure these crimes did not continue in the future. They responded by saying they are investigating metal recycling centers where thieves were frequent.
