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New York State scrap processor Upstate Shredding LLC and sister company Ben Weitsman & Son Inc. have donated $50,000 to clean up scrap metal and tires in Tioga County.

The donation funds a cleanup program throughout Tioga County managed by Ellet Pratt, with the Department of Solid Waste.

"This is a fantastic partnership between the private and public sectors working together to help the community," Pratt says.

Upstate Shredding will pay local towns the market price for scrap metal recovered during their cleanup days.

"Upstate Shredding and Ben Weitsman are committed to giving back to the county and to doing what we can to promote the natural beauty of Tioga County," Adam Weitsman, president of Upstate Shredding and Ben Weitsman & Son, says.

Earlier in 2007, the companies also donated $50,000 to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to be used for the construction of a handicapped-accessible entrance to a fishing site where Owego Creek and the Susquehanna River meet in the Village of Owego.

Upstate Shredding and Ben Wietsman & Son process a combined total of 450,000 tons of scrap iron and 50,000 tons of aluminum and copper per year. Both companies are based in Owego, N.Y.

Colonial Metals, Columbia, Pa. has been named the fifth fastest growing company in its region by Central Penn Business Journal.

Colonial Metals President Michael Mann attributes the company’s success to its experienced workforce.

Central Penn Business Journal determines the rankings for its 50 Fastest Growing Companies based on revenue growth for the proceeding three years. The companies must be for-profit firms with headquarters in the Pennsylvania cities of Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry or York County.

"It is the commitment to hard work that has allowed Colonial Metals to maintain a very competitive position in the global economic arena which exists today," Mann says.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., Chicago, has presented the American Cancer Society with a $134,000 donation to benefit the Hope Lodge Center in St. Louis.

The company’s St. Louis-based recycling division has raised a total of approximately $1.1 million for the Hope Lodge Center.

For more than a decade, Smurfit-Stone’s recycling division has sponsored fundraising events to benefit the 44-bed extended-care facility, where cancer patients and their caregivers stay free of charge during treatment.

The recent $134,000 contribution was from this year’s Tournament of Hope golf outing, held Oct. 1 at Glen Echo Country Club in St. Louis.

"Our support of the Hope Lodge is an investment in the quality of life of the patients they serve as well as the St. Louis community," says Patrick J. Moore, chairman and CEO of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. "In the past, many cancer patients seeking quality treatment at St. Louis area hospitals had no choice but to stay in motels and eat at nearby restaurants. Their mounting motel and food bills only exacerbated the challenges they faced in dealing with their cancer. The Hope Lodge helps ease these burdens and, in so doing, demonstrates the humanitarianism and citizenship Smurfit-Stone strives to emulate everywhere we operate."

The Tournament of Hope is an annual event organized by Smurfit-Stone’s recycling division. Company executives, account and sales representatives, customers, suppliers and vendors all participate in the outing.

"It’s a great way to build relationships and have fun while raising money for a worthwhile cause," says Mike Oswald, senior vice president and general manager of Smurfit-Stone’s recycling division.

June Shrinner, director of the Hope Lodge, says Smurfit-Stone is the facility’s largest corporate sponsor. "Smurfit-Stone has always been a wonderful supporter of the Hope Lodge Center and very supportive of the work we do in the community," Shrinner says. "It’s awesome to me that they put together this wonderful event and that competitors, vendors and suppliers all come together to play in it."