The Food Industry have known for some time that serious returnable and reusable asset losses from theft come not only from small-time thieves but also from sophisticated organized crime rings. What’s different today from a just a few years ago is that we have the technology to fight these organized rings from a united front. Getting this message out to the public is an important step in helping food enterprises and law enforcement tackle the problem.
It is estimated that returnable and reusable assets loss costs food enterprises hundreds of millions of dollars a year. These crimes are attributable to groups of well-organized thieves stealing plastic materials (crates, pallets, trays, etc.) to resell them to plastic recyclers, manufacturers, and suppliers, etc. These behaviors and actions result in higher costs to retailers, wholesalers and consumers, since food enterprises are compelled to make major security and protection investments that are eventually passed on to consumers. There is also evidence that these disconnected thieves/gangs could have connections to international terrorist groups. |
