Scrap metal thieves are targeting a prize that could cost St. Louis taxpayers thousands of dollars. They’re stealing hooks off of trash bins. The hooks are what trash trucks mechanical arms use to grab onto the bins to lift and empty them. They’re steel and weigh about 22 pounds each worth about two dollars at a scrap yard. The City says usually about 100 are stolen a year. Nearly 1,100 have been stolen so far this year. The problem has trash piling up as crews scramble to replace stolen hooks, at a cost of about $50 each. The City will begin stenciling the hooks with orange paint to mark them as city property, and has notified area scrap yards to watch out for them
