IPS - Proven Metal

With materials prices at record highs, recyclers of nonferrous metals need equipment that can help them keep pace with the market. When years of expansion and a booming market started taking their toll on Main Recycling’s old baling equipment, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company looked to IPS Baler Corp. of Baxley, Ga., to supply a machine that could keep up.

The IPS 13-NF-LH-200 Two-RAM baler has been put to the test during its three-plus years at Main Recycling, processing just about every kind of material that comes through the nonferrous recycler’s yard, according to Operations Manager Tim Hughes. The company, under the guidance of President Jim Pope, processes a wide variety of nonferrous metals—everything from aluminum extrusions, cans and copper wire to radiator coils, stainless steel and specialty metals from electronic scrap.

Everything, with the exception of the heavy brass that can’t be baled, is run through the IPS machine, which has been producing heavier bales at a much faster pace than the company’s old baler, Hughes says.

Main Recycling is seeing 1,100 to 1,200-pound bales of aluminum extrusions and bales of UBCs (used beverage containers) weighing in at around 1,000 pounds each, says Hughes. "It bales a much tighter package," he says.

The IPS baler has also met Main Recycling’s need for speed. "It bales quicker than our conveyor can feed it sometimes," Hughes says.

Furthermore, the bale’s heavy-duty construction has stood up to the challenge of baling nonferrous material. "We bale every day," Hughes says. "I don’t even see much wear on the plates yet and it’s going on three years."

The combo-door on the IPS baler has also prevented jamming, which the company used to experience when baling extrusions on the old equipment, Hughes adds. "With this baler, we have no challenges; it’s so much faster and so much stronger," he says.

Three years of heavier bales made at a rapid-fire pace has made a favorable impression on Hughes. He says he would be happy to recommend the IPS model baler to his colleagues in the industry, "as long as they’re not my competitors," he says.