Another debut

In January of this year, we debuted Scrap Recycling in partnership with Davis Index, and the response to and the support for the publication have been very positive. We are grateful for that. We’re following up that debut with yet another.

“The Scrap Show” is our new podcast series that features informal conversations between Recycling Today Senior Editor Brian Taylor and scrap industry professionals. We are planning to release new episodes twice per month. In each issue of Scrap Recycling, we will highlight one of these podcasts by sharing excerpts from that conversation. “The Scrap Show” offers industry veterans an opportunity to reminisce as well as look forward and those new to the industry an opportunity to deepen their knowledge.

In this issue, we feature excerpts from “The Scrap Show” podcast with Becky Proler, whose last name is synonymous with scrap recycling and shredding. Proler co-founded Southern Core Recycling in Houston in 1989, but her family’s involvement in the industry goes back much further. As the auto core industry changed, Southern Core reinvented itself as a full-service scrap company that specializes in shredded cast and aluminum as well as other forms of ferrous and nonferrous scrap.

“‘The Scrap Show’ offers industry veterans an opportunity to reminisce as well as look forward and those new to the industry an opportunity to deepen their knowledge.”

In an early 2020 interview with Proler, she told me one of the things she likes most about the industry: “I do like the fact that it is a relationship-based business, at least for me. ... You know, I’ve known some of these folks for 30 years. They gave me my first break; they sold me material. You start to build a family around that really. Our business is very unique in that way; it allows you to have relationships that are fairly important in your success or failure.”

Click here to read excerpts from Proler’s “The Scrap Show” interview and tune into the podcast at www.RecyclingToday.com/videos/category/podcasts.

In my interviews over the last two decades with industry professionals, many have stressed the roles that relationships and honor play in their success in this industry, and that remains the case no matter how much processing techniques evolve or global markets shift. In an industry where change is inevitable, the one thing you can control is how forthright you are with your suppliers and consumers and the community you operate in.