Olgin family re-enters the scrap metal market

Marc Olgin, a long-time scrap metal recycler, has returned from a noncompete clause with Liberty Iron & Metal with the opening of a new company called Olgin & Efune Recycling (OERC), located in Phoenix. The new facility will purchase ferrous and nonferrous metals.

Olgin, who is the CEO, says the top management of the new company has more than 75 years of combined experience in the scrap recycling industry. Adding to the family-based nature of the company will be Chad Olgin and Brad Efune, who will serve as co-presidents.

Olgin says he grew up in the industry, starting a scrap metal recycling facility in Erie, Pennsylvania. He moved to Arizona while also becoming the CEO of Liberty Iron & Metal Holding, where he helped build a presence for the company on the East Coast, West Coast and in Mexico.

In 2007, the Germany-based Scholz Group, Liberty and four affiliates created a joint venture. The Scholz Group acquired the minority stakes in Liberty Iron & Metal, including that of the Olgin family, in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Olgin says the new OERC plant, which opened in February, sits on approximately 10 acres of land and has about 100,000 square feet of space under roof. The facility also has a Union Pacific railroad siding, giving OERC access to a wider range of markets.

He also says the company will be shipping to domestic and offshore markets and will spend considerable time in 2018 installing equipment to allow OERC to process a wider range of materials.

Olgin lists a nonferrous baler, a shear and an excavator as the some of the equipment the company either now has onsite or will be purchasing soon. He says OERC will be working with industrial and retail businesses and will be working with companies in the demolition industry.

“The customer service we can provide to our clients is so much different,” Olgin says regarding his role an independent businessperson rather than as part of a multinational firm. While the company presently has 10 employees, Olgin says he expects to increase hiring as OECR grows and adds equipment.