NuCycle adding Danieli auto shredder to its Rock Hill, South Carolina, scrap yard

Neil Morris has long dreamt of adding an automobile shredder to his full-service auto salvage and scrap metal recycling company, NuCycle LLC, and soon will make it a reality.

NuCycle, Morris’ Rock Hill, South Carolina-based parent company which owns Morris Scrap Metal Co. Inc. in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and Carolina Salvage/U-Pull-It in Rock Hill, is in the process of installing a Danieli Centro Recycling DCR series shredder at the 35-acre Carolina Salvage yard. He says he expects the 4,000 horsepower, 80-by-108 model to be operational as soon as July.

“We’re very excited,” Morris says. “This has been a lifelong dream of mine to have an auto shredder. And the reason we chose to put it in Rock Hill was because of the proximity to [area] steel mills.”

Morris says he and his business partner, Charles Saleh, traveled all over the United States and Canada in recent years to look at 15 different shredder installations to help inform their purchase, and the installation process began in December 2023 with the help of Chicago-based Sargents Equipment and Repair.

“We just traveled around and, basically, took all the good we’ve seen and incorporated all the good we’ve seen into our installation,” Morris says. We went out to these sites, and you never go to a similar installation. No two are the same.”

Photo courtesy of Neil Morris

Fourteen acres of the Carolina Salvage/U-Pull-It site have been reserved for the shredder installation, which will include a ferrous downstream system Morris expects to be operational in July and a nonferrous downstream system he says should be online in August.

Once the shredder begins operating, Morris says it will be capable of processing 100 tons per hour and will be fed by three material handlers. Approximately 12 employees will operate the system in two daily shifts. He says about 60 percent of the shredded material will be vehicles, while 40 percent will be other types of scrap the company accepts.

A major selling point of the Danieli model is its inverter motor drive system, which Morris says practically runs itself and is “the most efficient processing available in the world.” Danieli is headquartered in Italy and has a U.S. location in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

“Danieli’s a world leader and they actually designed this shredder just for the U.S. market,” Morris says. “They have a good reputation, and we like the people we’re dealing with.”

The shredder’s ferrous downstream system will consist of two Eriez P-Rex permanent drum magnets and the Erie, Pennsylvania-based company’s Shred-1 ballistic separator to produce low copper shred Morris says mills currently desire. The ferrous system also consists of a Steinert GmbH polishing magnet situated before the picking line.

“Just talking around [about the ferrous downstream], people said in the next 10 years, if you’re not making the low copper shred, you’re kind of out of the market,” Morris says.

The shredder’s nonferrous system will consist of three eddy current separators and one sensor sorter made by Germany-based Steinert to further clean up auto shredder residue (ASR).

The installation will be the culmination of a five-year project, Morris says, adding that he initially wanted to add a shredder to his family business’ operation as far back as 2005, but elected to purchase a new shear instead. Now, he’s achieving a lifelong goal.

“[An auto shredder] is just something I’ve always been intrigued about,” he says. “Plus, back in ’05, they didn’t have all the downstream stuff you have now. It’s amazing what products you can make with your downstream now.”

Besides vehicles, Carolina Salvage/U-Pull-It—soon to be renamed Palmetto Recycling—accepts ferrous and nonferrous metals including appliances, industrial equipment, steel, copper, aluminum, brass, tin and more, and also accepts items such as batteries, radiators and catalytic converters, among others.

The company also provides gondola trailers, flat beds and containers from 20 yards to 60 yards to help manage recyclables. The U-Pull-It yard has over 1,200 different parts vehicles in stock, including all types of cars, trucks, vans SUVs, lawn and other equipment, bicycles and more.