BALTIMORE, Md.—Private investigator James Rood watched as a rental truck pulled up to a stack of plastic bread trays behind a McDonald's restaurant.
The truck's passengers jumped out and loaded hundreds of empty trays into the truck. Mr. Rood called police. Shortly after, officers pulled over the truck and arrested two men and a woman, later charged with felony theft.
Mr. Rood, of J.R. Investigative Services in Maryland, is part of a new effort by food companies to stop the theft of tens of millions of dollars a year in hard plastic—the trays, baskets and crates used to deliver bread, milk and soda to grocery stores and restaurants.
Such thefts have become big business over the past five years as the value of petroleum-derived plastic has climbed along with oil prices. The thieves typically take their loot to recycling centers that shred the plastic and resell it. Prosecutors say bandits collect about eight cents a pound in profits. Recyclers resell it for more than 15 cents a pound to manufacturers.
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