iDit

Or, Branded

In keeping with our promise to give you more green business ideas that can make you money in the current economy and to extend our list of Green Business Ideas For A New Green Economy we bring you the following green business idea:

While metals theft is down from 2008 levels it's still going on and while most metals recyclers are happy to work with police to curb metals theft there is room for an affordable system that would help scrap metal buyers identify stolen metals before they buy them, forcing the thieves to find another line of "work." I'm calling this system, iDit (a play on the word, "idiot" and the phrase "ID it") but if you build it you can call it anything you wish including iDit.

There's probably lots of existing technologies that could be put in place but I'm thinking of invisible bar coding that could only be read under UV scanners coupled to a system that would immediately notify local police whenever stolen items are scanned.

If made affordable, this sort of system could be put in places where metals or other possibly stolen articles are bought and sold. It could even be issued to police to use in the field.

For manufacturers, iDit tags could be an incentive to buy one product over another as consumers would gravitate towards iDit tagged products if everything else remained the same. For the public the advantages are obvious. And for recyclers, having the ability to read iDit tags would without a doubt improve the public's perception of our industry.

Yes, there will be thieves who figure out ways around such a system but having helped our local police apprehend several metals thieves in the last few months I can tell you that most of these thieves have neither the brains nor the tools they would need to get around such a system. Fact is: most metals thieves are supporting expensive drug habits, have little or nothing to their name and are only thinking far enough ahead to get their next fix.

And by all means, let's make iDit in the USA.