Top 20 Ferrous Scrap Processors in the United States

The managers of the nation's 20 largest ferrous scrap processing companies can be justifiably proud of leading their companies to the top.

A list of the nation’s largest ferrous scrap processors paints an interesting portrait. They are headquartered throughout the U.S.—on all coasts and throughout the interior of the country. Many large scrap companies have an unmistakable leadership position in the regional markets they serve, while the largest ones are striving to achieve that position in several regions at once.

But while there are common denominators to the 20 largest ferrous scrap companies in the U.S., there are also differences. Some are publicly traded, while many are privately or closely held. One of the largest is owned by an overseas holding company.

Nearly all of them can trace their roots back to humble small business origins, while a few are the result of last decade’s consolidation movement.

The statistical snapshots we have assembled about these companies can be seen on the chart on pages 40 and 42. What we are also doing on the following pages is presenting thumbnail sketches of who these companies are and how they got to be among the biggest (and presumably best) in their industry.

A list like this can provoke debate. Unfortunately, a reluctance by some companies to provide information may have led to their omission from the list. We suspect this is just fine with the companies in question.

However, we hope that some of these companies will reconsider. Listing the largest, most active companies is a way to gain recognition for what a company and its employees have accomplished. It takes hard work by a lot of people to procure, process and ship out ferrous scrap.

Business owners who have grown or nurtured a business so that it has become among the leaders in its industry should be justifiably proud. We hope that our recognition of those companies in the ferrous scrap segment that have accomplished this feat will be seen for what it is: A way to honor leadership in an industry that can provide challenges with each price adjustment and each twist and turn of the market.

1. METAL MANAGEMENT INC.

Metal Management Inc., Chicago, was created during the consolidation wave of the 1990s. Today, the company is still publicly held, but is under the leadership of scrap industry veteran Albert Cozzi.

The Chicago area operations of Cozzi Iron & Metal make up a key part of Metal Management’s current assets, but during its formation in 1997 and 1998, the company also acquired several regional companies, including: several smaller operators in the Chicago area; Perlco in Memphis, Tenn., and Salt River Recycling in Phoenix, which Cozzi had previously acquired; Naporano Iron & Metal Co., Newark, N.J.; Michael Schiavone & Sons, North Haven, Conn.; Proler Southwest, Houston; Newell Recycling of Denver Inc.; Emco Recycling Corp., Phoenix; Ellis Metals Inc., Tucson, Ariz.; The Isaac Group, Toledo, Ohio; M. Kimmerling & Sons, Birmingham, Ala.; Charles Bluestone Co., Elizabeth, Pa.; Nicroloy Co., Pittsburgh; and Aerospace Metals, Hartford, Conn.

Metal Management struggled through bankruptcy proceedings in 2001, and is still striving to achieve profitability in the current scrap markets.

The company’s 1,600+ employees buy, process and sell more than $750 million worth of metals annually, working from locations in 14 different states. In addition to its ferrous operations, the company also trades heavily in nonferrous metals.

The publicly released results of Metal Management reflect the difficulties faced by scrap recyclers in 2001. For its quarter ending Sept. 30, 2001, Metal Management’s revenues were down more than 20% compared to the same period last year, reflecting a much slower flow of materials through its yards.

The good news, says Cozzi, is that the company has reigned in its operating and administrative expenses, and a significant improvement in financial results can be anticipated when market conditions improve.

2. OMNISOURCE CORP.

The nation’s second largest ferrous scrap company is a dominant player in the manufacturing region located at the western end of Lake Erie.

With its headquarters in Fort Wayne, Ind., and its roots lying there and in nearby Toledo, Ohio, OmniSource Corp. was born with the combination of two family businesses located in each of those cities.

In Fort Wayne, the Rifkin family built Superior Iron & Metal into a formidable regional company, while the Tuschman family did the same with Kripke-Tuschman Industries in Toledo. When the two companies merged in the 1980s, the Rifkins assumed overall operating control (though the Tuschmans remain involved in Toledo), and the name OmniSource was chosen for the company.

Although OmniSource grew significantly during the 1990s, it did not go on an acquisition spree as much as it acquired additional facilities in or adjacent to the regional market with which it was familiar. The company branched into Michigan in addition to acquiring more locations in Indiana and Ohio. It also began important service contracts at major automotive plants that provided it with access to steady supplies of scrap.

The company has more recently ventured south, and now operates a shredder near the AmeriSteel mini-mill in Tampa, Fla., a shredder yard in Athens, Ga., andseveral other joint venture sites in Georgia.

Its presence on the nonferrous metals side is also significant, with the company operating both a wire chopping facility and a secondary aluminum smelter.

Four Rifkin family members are currently officers with the firm. CEO Leonard Rifkin told Recycling Today in 2000 that the family members have always been "committed to the building of the business, rather than the concept of trying to take the money out of the business. We wanted to build something for our families that could some day be considered one of the top companies in the U.S."

 

UP AND COMING

Several other companies are processing tonnage that puts them near the Top 20. Among those companies poised to reach the top 20 are Newell of Atlanta; General Iron Industries, Chicago; American Compressed Steel, Kansas City, Mo.; Morris Recycling Inc., Albany, Miss.; and Atlantic Scrap and Processing LLC, Kernersville, N.C. Several other companies that were contacted were not able to provide information, and we were not able to make contact with sources who could provide reasonable estimates. Those companies include Sadoff Iron & Metal Co., Fond du Loc, Wisc.; Yaffe Cos. Inc., Muskogee, Okla.; Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Co., Holland, Mich.; Adams Steel, Anaheim, Calif.; Pacific Coast Recycling, Long Beach, Calif.; Azcon Corp., Chicago; and Tennessee Valley Recycling, Decatur, Ala. —Brian Taylor

 3. TUBE CITY INC.

Founded in 1926 by Lithuanian immigrant David Coslov, Tube City has grown to become an international ferrous scrap processor handling more than seven million tons annually. The company remains under management of members of the Coslov family.

David Coslov began his scrap iron and steel processing firm in McKeesport, Pa., which at the time was the home to the National Tube steel mill and was nicknamed "The Tube City."

While the name Tube City Iron & Metal was chosen to reflect its location, just two years later the company moved to Glassport, Pa., where it is still headquartered. In 1987, when the company was acquired by David’s grandson, I Michael Coslov, the name of the firm was shortened to Tube City Inc.

Tube City sites many of its yards to take advantage of strategic partnerships with steel mills such as U.S. Steel’s Gary, Ind., complex; the Great Lakes Steel mill near Detroit; the U.S. Steel’s Fairless Hills complex in Pennsylvania; and the Co-Steel mill in Sayreville, N.J.

The company’s Olympic Mill Services division provides additional services to steel mills beyond scrap handling, including slag processing.

The company cites as its mission to "provide quality products and services to satisfy steel industry needs. We are committed to excellence and industry leadership through innovation, quality and a close partnership with our customers."

4. PHILIP METALS INC.

Like Metal Management, Philip Metals Inc. arose from the consolidation wave that swept the scrap industry in the 1990s. Cleveland-based Philip Metals is part of Philip Services Corp. (PSC), which has offices in Chicago and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The company’s scrap roots trace to both Hamilton, where companies like Intermetco and Waxman Industries were early acquisitions for PSC, and to Cleveland, long-time home of Luria Brothers Inc., one of the largest acquisitions made by PSC.

Similar to fellow consolidator Metal Management, Philip has been through bankruptcy proceedings and is trying to emerge from the current depressed scrap markets as a coast-to-coast scrap recycling services provider. Also like Metal Management, the companies acquired by PSC include some prominent scrap recycling names. In addition to Intermetco, Waxman and Luria Brothers, these firms include: Steiner-Liff Metals, Nashville, Tenn.; Southern Foundry Supply, Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Luntz Corp., Canton, Ohio.

At least twice during the past three years, PSC has explored selling its metals recycling assets. Currently, its nine auto shredders and other considerable operations place it among the largest scrap processors in North America.

5. HUGO NEU CORP.

Headquartered in Manhattan, the operations of Hugo Neu Corp. reflect the cosmopolitan nature of that global business center. The company is probably America’s single largest exporter and importer of scrap materials

According to a history offered on the company’s Web site (www.hugoneu. com), Hugo Neu emigrated to the U.S. in 1928, having been sent to New York by a German metal trading company.

In 1945, at the close of World War II, Neu started his own company, buying and selling primary and scrap metals, as well as machinery, ores and residue. The company grew along with the booming post-World War II economy, and was particularly adept at following up on international trading opportunities.

The company’s global operations caused them to also expand beyond New York in the U.S., with Hugo Neu establishing offices or operations in states ranging from California and Hawaii to New Jersey and Florida.

Strategic partnerships have also been a part of Neu’s past and present. Partnerships with the Prolers in Houston expanded Hugo Neu’s presence in the West and South. A current partnership with Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., Portland, Ore., has helped maintain the Neu presence in the West.

6. FERROUS PROCESSING & TRADING CORP.

The Motor City is a major generator and consumer of ferrous scrap, and Ferrous Processing & Trading Co. (FPT) went on a major growth spurt in the 1990s in order to dominate the ferrous scrap trade in this important regional market.

FPT is owned by Soave Enterprises, based in Detroit and run by Anthony Soave, who initially built his holdings with the solid waste firm City Management Corp., which he eventually sold to a national solid waste company.

Guided at first by former CEO Jeffrey Cole, and now by current president Howard Sherman, FPT operates three shredding plants in and around Detroit. The company acquired many of its area competitors, including nonferrous recycling company SLC Recycling in Warren, Mich., and Zalev Brothers Co., of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

More recently, the company has expanded beyond its Detroit operating region by acquiring the properties of the former Atlas Iron & Metal in Cleveland and in the Miami, Fla., region.

The company has made metals shredding the core of its business, including the operation of a capital-intensive downstream system at the SLC facility, where premium nonferrous grades are harvested from the post-shredder stream.

7. COMMERCIAL METALS CO.

Much of the nation’s growth over the past three decades has been in the Sun Belt, and Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) has helped provide scrap recycling services to this growing region.

The Dallas-based company operates facilities in several southern states, with both considerable ferrous and nonferrous scrap operations. The company traces its origins back to 1915, with a single scrap yard opened in Dallas by Moses Feldman. Moses’ son Jake guided the company through strong regional growth in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1950s CMC became one of the first scrap firms in the U.S. to offer publicly-traded stock.

In addition to its recycling division, CMC also owns four EAF steel mini-mills, additional finished steel and copper companies and concrete-related businesses.

CMC has more than 40 scrap processing facilities, with its largest presence in Texas, Florida, Tennessee and other southern states.

Although it is publicly traded, CMC did not engage in massive acquisitions in the mid and late 1990s. The company has also not suffered from the same red ink-drenched balance sheets as some of its other publicly-traded competitors. "Basically, we did it more systematically," CMC Secondary Metals Processing Division president Harry H. Heinkele told Recycling Today in 1999. "We had no mandate to try to double, triple or quadruple overnight. This allowed us to integrate new operations as we acquired them."

8. DAVID J. JOSEPH CO.

With roots tracing back to the 19th century, the David J. Joseph Co. has long been a prominent name in North America’s ferrous scrap industry.

The Cincinnati-based company was founded by Joseph and Samuel Joseph, whose business, known as Joseph Joseph and Brothers, had evolved from trading hides and wool to scrap iron trading by 1885.

The company added other metals-related operations to its company activities. By 1914, the scrap operations were managed by Joseph’s youngest son David, and included locations in seven cities. When World War I demand for scrap iron boomed, Joseph Joseph Brothers and Company was poised as a leading supplier of the material.

After the war, in 1921, David Joseph established the scrap division as the David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ). The company boomed during the 1920s and staggered through the Great Depression years. Following World War II, David J. Joseph Jr. became president of the company.

Under his leadership, the company prospered throughout the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. In 1975, the company was purchased by the Dutch holding company SHV Holdings. While the holding company has retained ownership throughout the years, it has largely allowed the Cincinnati-based management team to operate DJJ as its sees fit—and has not regretted doing so.

DJJ remains one of the largest processors and brokers of ferrous scrap in America. The company operates ten automobile shredders and processing and trading offices throughout the U.S.

The company bills itself as "a full-service supplier of value-added ferrous raw material sourcing strategies; a multi-faceted corporation with a global presence, generating over $1.5 billion in sales each year."

Offering recycling and transportation services, plus international brokering of scrap and scrap substitutes, DJJ has trading offices and plants in 20 states plus Mexico, and employs nearly 1,200 people. The company is also involved in additional joint ventures.

 

9. SCHNITZER STEEL PRODUCTS CO.

Representing the vertical integration of the steel and scrap industries, Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., Portland, Ore., both processes and consumes large amounts of ferrous scrap. The company Sam Schnitzer started in 1906 as a “one-man operation” has grown to include steel mills and super-sized scrap yards that prepare ferrous scrap for domestic and international consumption. Schnitzer’s Cascade Rolling Mills division makes steel rod, wire and rebar. The company’s scrap business focuses on ferrous materials. The scrap operations include joint ventures with Hugo Neu Corp. of New York. Large shredder yards in Pacific Coast cities of Portland, Oakland and Tacoma, Wash., are key outposts in Schnitzer’s scrap empire. The export facilities ship to steel mills in Asian markets such as South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan and India. 77-year-old Leonard Schnitzer, Sam’s son, is the current chairman of the board at Schnitzer, while long-time Schnitzer employee Robert Philip is the president and CEO. Leonard Schnitzer told Recycling Today for an article written nearly ten years ago that he is proud of the company’s role as a true recycler. “We start with [obsolete] automobiles at one end of the pipeline, and steel rebar, flat bar and structural steel comes out of the other.”

 

10. AMG RESOURCES CORP.

The metals industry epicenter of Pennsylvania remains rich territory for scrap companies, and Allan Goldstein’s AMG Resources has built up a substantial business in the Keystone State. Pittsburgh-based AMG Resources traces its origins back to some detinning operations that got their start in the early 1900s. But the company really got rolling after 1988, when current president Allan Goldstein purchased detinning plants in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and prepared to acquire additional operations to boost the newly acquired business’ growth potential. Subsequently, AMG has acquired operations in New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, California, and started greenfield scrap recycling facilities in Minnesota and Puerto Rico. AMG Resources has also focused on scrap brokerage, and now operates 12 brokerage offices in addition to its 11 processing facilities. The company stresses service to its scrap generating and scrap consuming companies, including offering a railcar tracking service through its Web site, www.amgresources.com.

11. MILLER COMPRESSING CO.

The industrial state of Wisconsin provides plenty of generated ferrous scrap for Miller Compressing Co., Milwaukee. The company’s six scrap facilities house two auto shredders, with some having access to Great Lakes shipping routes.

12. SIMSMETAL AMERICA

The U.S. operations of the Australian scrap company Simsmetal make the company a major player on the Pacific Coast.

Simsmetal established its foothold in North America with the 1988 purchase of LMC Metals Co. (Levin Metals Co.), a San Francisco Bay Area scrap company around which Sims has built its North American operations.

13. SOUTHERN SCRAP RECYCLING

The bustling Gulf Coast region is home to Southern Scrap Recycling, New Orleans. Auto shredders help process the ferrous scrap flowing through Southern’s Gulf Coast area yards, while access to shipping routes along the coast and the industrial canal that serves New Orleans provide shipping options.

14. ALTER SCRAP PROCESSING CO.

Although headquartered in St. Louis, the bulk of Alter’s scrap operations are located to the north in Iowa. The company is a prominent barge shipper of ferrous scrap, using the inland waterways to reach EAF mills in Arkansas and other states.

15. SAMUELS RECYCLING CO.

Madison, Wisc., serves as the headquarters of Samuels Recycling, which operates facilities in more than a half-dozen cities in that state. The company runs auto shredders in Madison and Green Bay.

16. TXI CHAPARRAL STEEL

TXI Chaparral, Midlothian, Texas, operates a large ferrous scrap yard to produce feedstock for its EAF steel mill. The company has built a second mill in Virginia, and is expected to soon ramp up recycling operations at an adjacent scrap yard.

17. NORTH STAR RECYCLING

The North Star Steel division of Cargill Inc., Minneapolis, meets some of its feedstock needs with ferrous scrap prepared by North Star Recycling. Last year, North Star Recycling provided 400,000 tons of the approximately three million tons of EAF feedstock required by North Star.

18. GALAMET INC.

Operating shredders in its home market of Kansas City, Mo., Galamet Inc. has grown into a formidable regional competitor. Members of the Galemba family help oversee operations at the company’s primary location in Kansas City as well as several feeder yards.

19. CAMDEN IRON & METAL INC.

Processing the industrial and obsolete scrap of southern New Jersey is the job of Camden Iron & Metal. The firm’s two shredder yards and two additional locations prepare scrap for domestic and export shipments.

20. GERSHOW RECYCLING

Long Island, New York serves as the home of Gershow Recycling, a family business with five facilities, four shredding plants (including a recently acquired one in Brooklyn that is being rebuilt) and access to a deepwater shipping port.

Chart of the Top 20 Ferrous Scrap Processors