By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE government of Guam should fully implement the existing anti-fencing law instead of adding new requirements that might stifle the scrap metal recycling industry on Guam, owners of recycling companies said yesterday.
Recycling company owners urged senators yesterday to reconsider and reevaluate Bill 12, which seeks to amend the local anti-fencing law by adding new requirements such as complete identification and fingerprints for people selling scrap metal.
 At yesterday’s public hearing on the bill, the recycling company owners pointed to some loopholes in the bill.
Peter Gil, owner of Kwik Space, said requiring fingerprints might be too much to ask from people who sell scrap metal.
 “Some people who sell scrap metal are ordinary people who are just clearing their yards of junk. If I were the person cleaning my yard, I would wonder why I have to be fingerprinted to sell my junk,” Gil said.
 The bill, introduced by Minority Leader Judi Won Pat, D-Malojloj, also seeks to prohibit recycling companies from buying scrap metal from “any person under 18” or any person “who appears under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance.” It also prohibits any person convicted of robbery, theft or burglary within the last three years to sell any high value salvage material.
Gil said prohibiting scrap metal transactions with people under 18 is not exactly sound either. “There are young people who clean other people’s backyards and part of the deal is that they get to keep any junk material that can be salvaged and sold,” Gil told Sen. Ray Tenorio’s public safety committee, which heard Bill 12.
 As for the provision that prohibits transactions with convicted thieves and robbers, Eric Shieh of Pyramid Recycling said companies have no way of finding out about their clients’ criminal records.
 And even if they were convicts, Shieh said it would be unfair to deny them their only opportunity to make a living.
 “Some people may have criminal records and if they can’t find a job, they go to the dumpsite to collect scrap material. This is what they do for a living. I don’t think we should punish them for trying to make a living,” Shieh said.
 Wei Chen Lin of Rising Year International echoed Shieh’s sentiments. “Why should I reject their material just because they have a criminal record?” he asked.
 “I want to invite senators to come to my junkyard to see what kind of junk they sell to us. It is junk collected from the jungle, such as broken VCRs and leftovers from jobsites,” Wei told the senators.
 Bill 12, which requires recycling companies to keep more comprehensive records of their buying transactions, was prompted by the growing number of copper wire thefts on Guam. The Guam Police Department reported close to 100 copper wire thefts late last year. At least three men were arrested for alleged involvement in some of these thefts.
 Tenorio said while the bill seeks to curb the theft of salvage materials, senators want to ensure that it doesn’t hurt recycling companies.
 “We can fix this bill. We don’t want to penalize businesses themselves,” Tenorio said, as he urged the business owners to come back to the Legislature with recommendations.