Top 20 Nonferrous Scrap Processors

Click here for the Top 20 list of the Largest U.S. Nonferrous Scrap Processors

Many of the images most commonly associated with scrap recycling involve the handling of ferrous scrap, including the processing of auto bodies and structural beams.

But nearly all of the same companies that move large amounts of scrap iron and steel are also involved in the nonferrous metals segment.

The types of nonferrous scrap that a recycler can deal in are enough to fill a book (the fattest section of the ISRI Scrap Specifications Circular, as a matter of fact). Within the nonferrous scrap recycling segment, there are specialty companies that focus exclusively on certain metals and alloys.

For purposes of compiling this list, we asked recyclers to concentrate on the most commonly traded nonferrous metals—aluminum and copper. Certainly, there are other metals to consider, and some of these may provide a topic for a future list.

Whether to add in stainless steel processing was another question. This iron-bearing metal with a price pegged to its nonferrous alloying elements has a habit of raising classification questions. (For more on this split-personality metal, see "The Great Debate," Recycling Today Nonferrous Scrap Supplement, July 2002.)

Ultimately, focusing on aluminum, copper and the nonferrous portions of the auto shredder stream provided a yardstick we hoped could be applied evenly.

As with the "Top 20 Ferrous Scrap Processors in the U.S." list, (Recycling Today, March 2002), we received replies from some but not all of the companies contacted. In some cases, we placed companies on the list based on estimates from industry sources, while in other cases we refrained from doing so.

In an effort to receive more information, we decided to keep actual volume figures confidential. The list that has been created ranks the companies based on combined processing volume in three categories (aluminum, red metals and "Zorba" nonferrous shred) and also notes where within the 20 largest each company ranks in each of the three segments.

Also, on the following pages, we present brief profiles of these companies, hopefully revealing in part how they got to be among the biggest (and presumably best) in their industry.

The reluctance of some companies to provide information has probably led to their omission from this list, meaning we cannot claim 100 percent accuracy. We hope that some of these companies will reconsider their policy. 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 nonferrous scrap.

If you work for or own a company that you suspect should be on this list but was not contacted, please let us know, and we will make sure to let our readers know. Editor Brian Taylor can be contacted via e-mail at btaylor@RecyclingToday.com.

Coast-to-coast accurately describes the operations of David J. Joseph Co (DJJ), Cincinnati, which operates trading offices and processing plants in 20 states, plus Mexico, and employs nearly 1,200 people.

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

The company’s scrap operations adopted the David J. Joseph name in 1921 and grew tremendously in the post-World War II era.

In 1975, the company was purchased by the Dutch holding company SHV Holdings. While the holding company has retained ownership throughout the years, the Cincinnati-based management team has a great deal of autonomy.

DJJ is among the largest processors and brokers of both ferrous and nonferrous scrap in North America. With subsidiaries that include River Metals Recycling in Kentucky, Western Metals Recycling west of the Rockies and Trademark Metal Recycling in the South, DJJ operates 10 automobile shredders and processing and trading offices throughout the U.S.

Today, the company is one of the nation’s largest scrap recycling firms and a dominant player in the manufacturing region located at the western end of Lake Erie. More recently, OmniSource has ventured south and now operates a shredder near the AmeriSteel mini-mill in Tampa, Fla., and a shredder yard in Athens, Ga.

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.

The company has grown steadily in the Indiana-Ohio-Michigan tri-state region.

Its presence on the nonferrous metals side is significant, with the company operating both a wire chopping facility and a secondary aluminum smelter in addition to collecting and processing aluminum and red metals at most of its 34 facilities.

3. METAL MANAGEMENT INC.

Metal Management Inc., Chicago, was created when several major, regional scrap companies combined to form a public company in the 1990s. Under the current leadership of scrap industry veteran Albert Cozzi, the company has a market-leading regional presence in several parts of the country.

The company’s 1,600-plus employees buy, process and sell more than $750 million worth of metals annually, working from locations in 14 different states. The company trades heavily in nonferrous metals at most of its 26 facilities, including a sizable stainless steel and high-temp alloys business on both coasts. Metal Management operates wire chopping lines in Birmingham, Ala., and Southgate, Calif.

Hugo Neu Corp., New York, is among America’s single exporters and importers of scrap, with the shipment of ferrous scrap overseas being one of its specialties. The company exports 3 million tons or more of scrap metal annually from six ports: four on the Atlantic coast, one on the Pacific Coast and one in Hawaii.

The company has a growing nonferrous business centered on red metals and the "Zorba" grade of nonferrous shredder product.

Strategic partnerships have been a part of Neu’s past and present. A former partnership 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.

Reaching out to the international market has helped Neu grow into its current position as a major metals processor and trader on both U.S. coasts.

Cleveland-based PSC Metals is part of Philip Services Corp. (PSC), now based in Houston. Like Metal Management, PSC Metals Inc. grew during the consolidation wave that swept the scrap industry in the 1990s.

The company’s scrap roots trace to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 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.

The PSC facilities portfolio includes 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.

6. COMMERCIAL METALS CO.

Irving, Texas-based Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) has provided scrap recycling services to the Sun Belt region for decades. The company operates facilities in several southern states, with considerable ferrous and nonferrous scrap operations.

Scrap recycling represents only a portion of what the company does, as it also owns four EAF steel mini-mills, additional finished steel and copper companies and concrete-related businesses.

The company traces its origins back to 1915, with a scrap yard opened in Dallas by Moses Feldman. In the 1950s, CMC become one of the first scrap companies in the U.S. to offer publicly-traded stock. CMC now has more than 40 processing facilities, with its largest presence in the southeastern U.S., epecially in Texas and Florida. Among its nonferrous recycling assets are wire chopping operations in Dallas and Jacksonville, Fla.

7. SLC RECYCLING DIV. OF FERROUS PROCESSING & TRADING CORP.

Shredding cars, appliances and other scrap is at the heart of operations for Ferrous Processing & Trading Co. (FPT), Detroit. FPT is owned by Soave Enterprises, based in Detroit and run by Anthony Soave, who initially built his business empire with the solid waste firm City Management Corp., which he eventually to a national solid waste company.

FPT operates shredding plants in Detroit, Cleveland and Miami. The company acquired many of its competitors in the Detroit area, including Zalev Brothers Co. of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and former Zalev nonferrous recycling subsidiary SLC Recycling in Warren, Mich.

Operations at SLC have been upgraded with a capital-intensive downstream system, where premium nonferrous grades are harvested from the post-shredder stream. (See "Premium Grade Effort," in the July 2001 Recycling Today.)

The company uses a combination of screens, eddy currents, sand flotation systems and optical sorters to turn "Zorba" into more marketable grades.

The U.S. operations of Australia’s Simsmetal Ltd. established a major foothold in North America with the 1988 purchase of Levin Metals Co., a San Francisco-area scrap firm around which Sims has built its North American operations.

Today, Simsmetal operates several facilities in California, including shredders in Etiwanda and Redwood City and scrap yards in Virginia and Illinois (as well as just across the border in British Columbia, Canada). Its nonferrous scrap presence includes a wire chopping facility in San Jose, Calif., and the production of the "Zorba" grade from its shredder plants.

This Philadelphia family scrap business handles a steady stream of aluminum and copper scrap, preparing much of it for export. The Greller family, including former president Stanton Greller and current president Ronald W. Greller, operate the active processing and brokerage firm.

11. MILLER COMPRESSING CO.

12. SCHNITZER STEEL PRODUCTS CO.

The company that Sam Schnitzer started in 1906 as a "one-man operation" has grown to include steel mills and super-sized scrap yards that prepare scrap for domestic and international consumption.

The scrap operations also include joint ventures with Hugo Neu Corp. of New York. Large shredder yards in the Pacific Coast cities of Portland, Oakland and Tacoma, Wash., are key outposts in Schnitzer’s scrap empire and help to generate a significant amount of "Zorba" nonferrous shredder material—the company’s largest nonferrous commodity.

13. SOUTHERN SCRAP RECYCLING

The bustling Gulf Coast region is home to Southern Scrap Recycling, New Orleans. Auto shredders help process the 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 provides a shipping option.

Processing Southern California’s scrap stream has helped Los Angeles-based Alpert & Alpert become one of the largest scrap recycling firms in the U.S. In addition to its considerable aluminum and red metals operations, the company also handles ferrous scrap, stainless steel and high-temp alloys and recyclable plastics.

Founders Herman and Mandel Alpert emigrated to the U.S. in the 1900s and worked their way across America by buying and selling scrap materials before finally settling in Los Angeles in 1930, creating what was originally known as the Alpert and Alpert Junk Company. Today, third-generation family member Alan Alpert runs one of the two main subsidiaries while second-generation executive Howard Farber runs the other.

15. ALTER SCRAP PROCESSING CO.

16. MORRIS RECYCLING INC.

This third-generation family recycling business operates seven locations in Mississippi, including a shredder plant in Greenville. Based in New Albany, Miss., the company has grown steadily through acquisition, focusing on the state it knows best as well as adjacent portions of Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee.

17. COHEN BROTHERS INC.

Serving industrial accounts is a central focus for Cohen Brothers Inc., Middletown, Ohio. While supplying nearby steel mills and foundries with ferrous scrap is a central activity for the company, it also deals in its share of nonferrous scrap, including aluminum, red metals and nonferrous shredder byproducts.

18. 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.

Baltimore-based Ansam Metals Corp. procures and processes nonferrous metals, concentrating on copper and brass. With one facility in Baltimore and another in Decatur, Ala., the company has carved out niches in condenser tubing, condensers, heat exchangers, industrial air conditioners and other forms of copper-based scrap.

Spencer, Iowa, is the home of Shine Bros. Corp., a wire chopping and nonferrous recycling company with 100 years of history in the scrap recycling industry. Current owner Toby Shine is descended from company founders Sam and Harry Shine, Russian immigrants who moved to Iowa from Chicago in 1902.

A number of other companies are processing tonnage that puts them near the Top 20. Among those who are poised to reach the top 20 in the future are Galamba Metals Group, Kansas City, Mo.; Gershow Recycling; Medford, N.Y.; Mallin Bros. Co. Inc., Kansas City, Mo.; Universal Scrap Metals Inc., Chicago; and Allan Company, Baldwin Park, Calif.

Companies that were contacted but did not provide information, and for whom we could not provide reasonable estimates, include Sadoff Iron & Metal Co., Fond du Loc, Wisc.; Yaffe Cos. Inc., Muskogee, Okla.; Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Co., Holland, Mich.; and Tennessee Valley Recycling, Decatur, Ala.