The boom in metal prices over the past five years has triggered a wave of metal theft across the world – from lead on church roofs to steel manhole covers. But it has also contributed to the clean- up of abandoned rusty cars, farm machinery and disused construction materials as scrap dealers scoured the land for metal.

All metals can be recycled, and a huge volume of scrap is produced each from old cars going to the scrap yard, packaging, batteries, domestic appliances, building materials and electronic goods together with steel and copper wiring in buildings that are pulled down to make way for new developments.