Scrap Industry News

ARA Seeks Extension for CARS Program
The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), Manassas, Va., has joined the ranks of companies and associations calling for an extension of the time required to crush vehicles generated through the Cash for Clunkers trade-in program.

Under the initial Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program regulations, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) prescribed a 180-day period for facilities to crush vehicles traded in under the program. When those rules were issued, the $1 billion program was to run through Nov. 1, 2009. On July 31, 2009, Congress passed an additional $2 billion in funding for the program, which concluded earlier than expected because of favorable consumer response and lack of additional funding.

According to text on the ARA Web site, it is now calling for the NHTSA to extend the time frame allowed for crushing these vehicles to 365 days.

Freedom Metals Ranks in “Fast Fifty”
Freedom Metals, based in Louisville, Ky., has received a “Fast Fifty” award from Business First of Louisville in recognition of the company’s rapid growth, which is estimated to be from 75 to 90 percent for 2009. 

The company ranked 25th in “Fast Fifty” in 2009, marking Freedom Metals’ sixth consecutive year as one of the fastest growing companies in the state. The company was also recognized in Inc. magazine’s 5,000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the country in 2009, marking the third consecutive year that Inc. has recognized Freedom Metals.

“We are extremely proud to be part of not only the ‘Fast Fifty’ locally but one of Inc. magazine’s top 5,000,” says Spencer Blue, vice president and COO of Freedom Metals. “We are a family-run business and we take pride in that fact that we have an impact at both the state and national level and continue to grow despite these tough economic times.”

Freedom Metals Inc., with locations in Louisville and Elizabethtown, Ky.,  has served Kentucky and Indiana since 1983. The company specializes in processing all grades of ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals.

Sims Sees Steep Decline in Quarterly Sales
Sims Metal Management (SMM), Chicago, has reported sales of $1.8 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, a 49 percent drop from the first quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, the company reported a net profit of $33.3 million, a 77 percent decline from the first quarter of the previous year.

Daniel Dienst, SMM’s group CEO, says, “In our first quarter we noted sequential improvement in ferrous pricing coupled with improved scrap intake, particularly as we re-asserted ourselves in the marketplace for unprocessed scrap. Nonferrous markets were relatively firm, and our Sims Recycling Solutions business executed well.”

Sims Metal Management purchased 3.6 million metric tons and shipped 3.5 million metric tons of scrap metal in the first quarter of the year, compared with 4.2 million metric tons of scrap metal purchased and 4.2 million metric tons shipped in the prior corresponding period. Scrap intake and shipments increased 28 percent and 16 percent, respectively, for the quarter compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

“We achieved significantly improved results in our first quarter due to the benefits from cost-cutting initiatives undertaken in fiscal 2009, a steadier pricing environment and a return to more normalized trading conditions,” Dienst says. “While profitable, we note continued margin pressures as industrialized, scrap-generating economies of the world suffer from an economic downturn that has diminished intake, placing upward pressure on buy prices.”
On a regional basis, Dienst says that during the quarter scrap intake in North America increased by 32 percent to 2.8 million metric tons compared with the previous quarter. Meanwhile, operating expenses in North America declined by 23 percent during the quarter compared with the previous quarter.

In Australasia, sales dropped 32 percent to $301.3 million from the prior corresponding three-month period. Scrap intake increased 18 percent from the prior quarter, while operating expenses declined by 17 percent.
For information on SMM’s European business unit performance for the quarter, visit www.recyclingtoday.com/sims_metal_management_quarter_reports_134567.aspx.

SA Recycling Celebrates Injury-Free Year at Its Port of Long Beach Facility
SA Recycling, headquartered in Anaheim, Calif., has announced that it has completed its 365th day without an injury or accident at its Port of Long Beach facility in California, which has logged more than 163,000 labor-hours in the past year. 
In the past 365 days, the Long Beach Facility has loaded 16 vessels with a total of 662,000 metric tons of recycled metal. The company’s processing operations at SA Long Beach include shear, torching, railroad car, container and large bulk vessel loading. 
“I am so proud of the SA team that made this huge achievement possible,” says Moises Figueroa, SA Recycling general manager in charge of the company’s two port facilities. “We hold daily, weekly and monthly safety meetings, stressing everyone’s responsibility to work safely. It’s safety first or it’s not worth doing it.”
A full-service ferrous and nonferrous metal recycler, SA Recycling has 41 locations across the Southwest U.S.