Langley Township's Mayor Rick Green is floating the idea of a tougher metal theft bylaw in the wake of several wire thefts in rural Langley.

The idea was sparked after a series of thefts of Telus phone wire in August.

Green points to Telus's claim that almost 40 per cent of the wire thefts from its lines in Metro Vancouver are in the Langley area.

To help cut down on the thefts, Green thinks Langley should consider taking a page from Surrey's bylaws book, and copying its bylaw.

"They've got more teeth in their bylaw," Green said.

Bylaws in Surrey and Langley City are the result of an effort three years ago to create a regional bylaw that would stop what was then a mini-epidemic of metal theft.

With the prices of metal such as copper and aluminum at record highs in 2006 and 2007, thieves were tearing down power lines, ripping up street lights, and breaking into industrial lots at night.

The stolen metal found its way into the scrap yards of unscrupulous recyclers.

However, the efforts by former Langley City administrator Cliff Gittens to create a region-wide bylaw foundered. Even Langley City took months to tweak and pass itsd own bylaw.

Some scrap recyclers objected to some provisions of the planned bylaws.

In the Township, the only recycler is Mac's Traders. Owner Ruedi Uebelhardt said in 2007 that one of the proposed ideas - that scrap dealers hold on to metal for seven days before selling it - would harm his business.

Mac's Traders has always refused to take suspicious metal, and Uebelhardt has actually helped the police arrest several thieves.

Uebelhardt is currently on vacation and could not be contacted.

Langley may only have one recycler, but it could see more in the future, Green said.

Surrey's bylaws include the provision that some types of metals - usually those sold for cash, bought from individuals rather than known companies - must be kept for seven days.

The bylaw also forces scrap dealers to keep detailed records of the seller of each shipment of scrap, with the records held for two years and open to any bylaw officer or police officer who asks to see them.