A changing landscape

As we do every two years, Recycling Today has compiled our list and map of the automotive and metal shredder installations in the United States. Thank you to the shredder operators who took time to update our staff on the status of their shredders and to Italy-based SGM Magnetics, with its U.S. headquarters in Sarasota, Florida, for sponsoring this effort.

To produce the most accurate list possible, the Recycling Today editorial staff reaches out to each company or location on this list by email and/or phone. We also use a form that we promote through www.RecyclingToday.com to solicit information. Finally, we consult with other industry sources as we update our list. However, we realize this effort is not perfect. Should you notice an installation we missed or reported the status of incorrectly, please let us know by emailing Recycling Today Media Group Editorial Director DeAnne Toto at dtoto@gie.net.

Recycling Today confirmed 284 shredders operating in the U.S. as of the fall of 2024, with 12 shredders idled and one in the process of being installed by Amerigo Metal Recycling LLC, Lake City, Georgia. Including the Amerigo shredder, the total count of shredders installed in the U.S. is 297. In 2022, Recycling Today listed 293 shredders on our list, 270 of which were operating.

The increased number is in part because of the addition of aluminum shredders operated by Sims Alumisource in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The following five companies have installed shredders that did not appear on our last list: American Iron & Metal Co. Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Carolina Salvage in Rock Hill, South Carolina; Crow Wing Recycling (which has idled its shredder in Brainerd, Minnesota) in Ironton, Minnesota; Empire Recycling in Carrollton, Virginia; and Padnos in Howell, Michigan.

However, the overall number of shredders in the U.S. remains lower than the 305 we reported in 2020. Of the companies we spoke with, we learned 12 shredders have been taken out of service over the past two years, including a shredder in Rockville, Maryland, that Sims Metal acquired from Atlantic Recycling Group; OmniSource shredders in Greenville, Mississippi, and Smithfield, North Carolina; the former Baltimore Scrap Corp. shredder that Sims Metal acquired in 2023; the former United Milwaukee Scrap Inc. Alter Trading Corp. acquired in Milwaukee; and SA Recycling's Shredder in Columbus, Ohio.

With its purchase of Bedford Recycling in Bedford, Indiana, the Metal Source name now appears on our list. Metal Source LLC, headquartered in Wabash, Indiana, bought the assets of Bedford Recycling Inc., which has locations in Bedford and Mitchell, Indiana, in the summer of 2023. Along with scrap yards in the Indiana cities of Wabash, Peru, Decatur and now Bedford and Mitchell, Metal Source operates two plants in Wabash and one plant in Huntington and Marion, Indiana, that produce 356 sow and ingot, aluminum deox products and 380 sow and ingot.